ALEXANDRA “Alex” Eala climbed four spots and seized the No. 15 spot in the WTA live race to the Finals on Wednesday.
Eala, who is No. 19 in the official race with 711 ranking points, made the leap after advancing to the 500 Linz Open round of 16 with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Austrian Julia Grabher.
The round of 32 victory boosted Eala with 60 ranking points, bringing her total to 771.
Ranked No. 46 in the WTA official rankings, Eala still has many points to gain to make the top eight which merits a spot in the season-ending WTA Finals in November.
The current No. 8 in the race as of writing is world No. 10 and Linz Open top seed Mirra Andreeva, who has 1,369 points.
World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka leads the race with 3,800 points.
Meanwhile, Eala secured 15,690 euros, or a P1.089 million, payout after a winning debut at the WTA Linz Open in Austria early Wednesday in Manila.
World No. 46 Eala defeated No. 89 and home bet Julia Grabher, 6-4, 6-3, in their round of 32 clash to advance to the round of 16 against Jelena Ostapenko.
If Eala tops No. 23 Ostapenko and advances to the quarterfinals, she will secure a 30,495-euro prize, or P2.1 million.