Alex Eala has spoken about her approach to tracking her progress in the WTA Rankings after she clinched a significant milestone at the Washington Open.

The Filipina began the WTA 500 tournament in Washington DC at a career-high ranking of 28th, and she has climbed four places to a projected new best position of 24th after reaching the final.

Eala defeated Zheng Qinwen, Leylah Fernandez, Elina Svitolina and Naomi Osaka en route to the title match in the United States capital.

The 21-year-old, who is chasing her maiden WTA Tour title, began her showdown with world No 3 Jessica Pegula in the Washington final on Sunday.

Pegula was leading 6-4, 1-2 when play was suspended due to rain, and the match is due to be completed on Monday.

In her press conference after her semi-final victory over Osaka, Eala was asked if she look at the rankings and pays attention to her position.

“I look at rankings from time to time. It’s not, like, something I’m checking after every match, you know, and I’m lucky enough to say that, at this point, it’s where I feel it kind of tapers off,” said Eala.

WTA Tour News

Want more from Tennis365? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for tennis coverage you can trust.

“You know, like the higher you go, the steeper it gets, right? To every spot you move, or at least now I feel like every spot I move is kind of — it’s a big gap, right?

“I think my main focus is to win with more matches. Obviously the priority is kind of the level that I produce in such matches, and I think if I’m able to reach those levels at a consistent kind of pace, then of course, the ranking will follow.

“I’m not someone who says kind of, like, ‘oh, hard stop, I need to end the year by this’, because you never know what can happen throughout the year.

“Health is a big priority. You know, it’s just such a long season, so you don’t know what’s going to happen.

“Also, I don’t want to put the cap to where I can get. So, yeah, I guess it’s just taking it period by period, yeah.”

Eala also shared her thoughts on facing Pegula.

“Yeah, I think Jess is a really good player. I mean, not I think. She is a really good player,” she said.

“I think she hits quite a flat ball, makes the opponent uncomfortable, or at least I felt uncomfortable last time.

“I think I did a good job in certain points last year of, like, holding my ground. Like, I won the second set.

“But, yeah, I think there will definitely be a certain set of challenges. You know, she is where she is for a reason, so I’m going to try to face it head on and do what I can.”

If Eala defeats Pegula, she will climb to 20th in the WTA Rankings.

READ NEXT: Roger Federer’s former coach hails Alex Eala after Naomi Osaka masterclass