First final of the year for Alexandra Eala as Wimbledon seeding chase intensifies

Alexandra Eala has advanced to the final of the WTA 125 Birmingham on grass after a sequence of wins marked by controlled baseline tennis and efficient service games. The world No. 37 player entered the event as the top seed in search of quickly gaining experience on grass courts.

Her progression began against Priscilla Hon in the opening round with a commanding 6-0, 6-2 win. The Filipina barely conceded two games in a match that lasted less than an hour. Later came victories against Alina Charaeva and Mananchaya Sawangkaew, in which Eala showed her favoritism with straight-sets wins.

The semifinal, however, represented a complicated match against world No. 132 Rebeka Masarova — former world No. 62 and a player who has dropped in the rankings due to injuries. Nevertheless, the Filipina prevailed in a three-set match — marked by a rain interruption when she was leading 5-2 in the third set.

While the Roland Garros final was being played — with Mirra Andreeva crowned as the winner of her first Grand Slam — Eala was waiting to return to the court to close out her victory. After several hours, she returned and completed the task, advancing to the final with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 win. She will face fifth seed Nikola Bartunkova this Sunday, a 20-year-old Czech player currently ranked world No. 69.

Eala made a rather unusual decision for a top-50 player: she opted to compete in a WTA 125 tournament in search of adding wins and court time, especially on a surface she is only beginning to get to know. The victory over Masarova reinforces that Eala still has a lot to prove on grass courts.

"Really happy with the win today, to be in my first final of the year in Birmingham," Eala said after the match. "It was such a tough battle today. Every time we went back and forth, we never knew what was going to happen. Rebeka played really well. She put me in some tough spots."

Eala has not played many events on grass so far in her career, although she has already produced good results. Last year she played her first WTA 250 final at the Eastbourne International — although she was much lower in the rankings, only around No. 74 at the start of the tournament.

The Filipina reached the final and squandered match points before eventually falling to Maya Joint in an epic clash. Even so, she showed her value on the surface — where she had come through qualifying and defeated opponents such as Hailey Baptiste and Jelena Ostapenko on her way to the final.

Eala will contest this Sunday what could be her second WTA 125 title — after being crowned champion in Guadalajara back in September 2025, the most important title of her career so far. This time on grass courts, favoritism will be on her side against Bartunkova, where despite being the same age, Eala holds an advantage in terms of experience on big stages.

The Birmingham campaign comes at a particularly good moment in Eala’s career. She is currently ranked world No. 36 — although there is a significant chance of climbing to No. 33 if she wins the title.

That would not be a minor achievement, as it could give her the chance to be seeded at Wimbledon — considering the forced absence of Hailey Baptiste due to injury (and that Maja Chwalińska does not have a place in the main draw). Eala would need to be inside the top 34 to be seeded at Wimbledon — which would prevent her from facing higher-ranked opponents in at least the first two rounds.

So far, there are no previous meetings between Eala and Bartunkova, although the Czech player has already shown she is a player to watch. This year she has recorded wins over players such as Belinda Bencic, Madison Keys, and Daria Kasatkina.