Alex Eala of the Philippines celebrates with the Championship Trophy after successful the ladies’s singles championship match towards Jessica Pegula of the USA on the ultimate day of the Mubadala DC Open 2026 at William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Heart on August 3, 2026 in Washington, DC. Scott Taetsch/Getty Pictures/AFP
MANILA, Philippines–Alex Eala has cracked the highest 20 within the newest WTA rankings on the heels of her first WTA Tour title on the Mubadala DC Open.
Eala jumped 4 spots to set a brand new career-high of World No. 20 after a 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 victory over American World No. 3 Jessica Pegula within the rain-delayed ultimate in Washington.
“Initially of the week, there’s no method I’d have thought that I’d be holding this trophy,” mentioned Eala.
“Successful a 500 is insane. It’s an unimaginable milestone for me,” added the Filipino trailblazer.
Eala captured her first WTA 500 crown in her maiden look in DC, the place Pegula additionally claimed her breakthrough WTA title in 2019.
READ: Alex Eala rises to career-best No. 28 in WTA rankings
In one other giant-slaying run, Eala defeated Olympic gold medalist Zheng Qinwen and defending champion Leylah Fernandez within the first two rounds.
The 21-year-old Eala then swept World No. 10 Elina Svitolina and four-time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka to barge into the ultimate.
Her victory over Pegula marked her seventh over a prime 10 participant this season.
On cloud 9, Eala gained’t have a lot time to soak all of it in simply but as she is scheduled to plunge proper again into motion on the Canadian Open in Toronto towards American Alycia Parks within the spherical of 64 on Wednesday (Manila time).
Eala, who drew a first-round bye, is seeded twenty fifth within the WTA 1000 hardcourt occasion.
