Alex Eala instructed where she must improve in the low season to compete for Grand Slam titles in 2027

Following her breakthrough 12 months last season, Alex Eala has actually come on leaps and bounds in 2026.

The Filipina star clinched her first WTA Tour-level title at the Washington Open during the North American hard-court swing, where she put collectively an unimaginable marketing campaign. There, Eala beat Elina Svitolina, Naomi Osaka and Jessica Pegula en route to the title.

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At Wimbledon, Eala achieved her best Grand Slam consequence to date by reaching the fourth spherical of the Championships and dethroning defending champion Iga Swiatek in the course of.

Greg Rusedski tells Alex Eala what she wants to improve on

“The off-season is huge for Eala,” said former US Open finalist Greg Rusedski, analysing the 21-year-old, as per Tennis 365. “For me, those six weeks to a month period you have, it can make a big difference, and we all know her serve is the area she will be working on. If you can maximise and get a solution where you can get the speed, the accuracy up and break it down and get that daily work, that’s where it could pay dividends for her.

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“For me, I really feel like she’s got that work ethic, that perception. And will the coaches be courageous and attempt some new issues? The relaxation of her group knows this is something she’s gonna have to frequently work on, so once they get to the finish of the season, I’m sure working on her serve is quantity one on the checklist. It’s discovering a answer that the participant agrees with to get to the next step.

“So she will improve it. She’s got too good a team of people around her. You have an advantage when you are coming through because people don’t know too much about your game, but they work it out pretty quickly. That’s why the second season can often be more difficult because you don’t have that surprise factor anymore.

“I completely think she can get to the quarter-finals and semi-finals of Grand Slams next 12 months, but she wants to improve that serve. There’s more breaks in the ladies’s recreation because that’s an space they work on a lot more.

“If you have a better serve, whether it’s in the men’s or the women’s game, it makes a huge difference. What I like about Eala is her attitude and there’s no doubt she has it between the ears. That’s so important for any player looking to go to the next level.”

Alex Eala’s rise up the rankings during the 2026 season

Eala began the season ranked 58th in the world, which she shortly improved by reaching the quarterfinals of the Dubai Tennis Championships in February. By making the last eight in her debut marketing campaign at the WTA 1000 occasion, Eala went from forty seventh in the rankings to thirty first.

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Her rating took a hit when she bowed out of the Miami Open in the fourth spherical, having burst onto the scene there in 2025 by making the semifinals. But Eala slowly clawed her approach back into the prime 40, and cracked the prime 30 in June following a semifinal run in Berlin.

With the fourth-round run at Wimbledon, Eala started to close in on the prime 20 and finally got there in early August after clinching the Washington Open title. As it stands, Eala is ranked 18th in the world, which is her career-high.