Alex Eala earns historic Wimbledon seeding after return to WTA Top 30

Alex Eala is set to make history again after becoming the first Filipina to receive a seed in a Grand Slam tournament, earning this distinction for the upcoming Wimbledon Championships next month.

Eala achieved this after returning to the Top 30 of the WTA world rankings released on Monday, moving up five places following her stellar run at the recently-concluded Berlin Tennis Open, where she beat a pair of Top 10-ranked players to reach the semifinals.

With the seeding, Eala is expected to earn a first-round bye as she continues her surge in the grass-court season.

Eala is coming off an excellent run in Berlin, where she first swept Donna Vekic in the Round of 32 before stunning world No. 2 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan in the Round of 16 with a 7-5, 6-4 win. Eala then gave the boot to world No. 8 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine in the quarterfinals to complete the semifinals cast.

She, however, lost to Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic, ultimately bowing out of the tournament.

Before the Berlin tilt, Eala ruled the Birmingham Open for her second WTA title then lost to Iva Jovic in the Round of 16 of the HSBC Championships.

At Wimbledon, Eala will look to improve from her 2025 showing, where the Pinay bet made an early exit following a 6-3, 2-6, 1-6 loss to Barbora Krejcikova in the Round of 128.

—JMB, GMA News