After her breakthrough year on the WTA Tour in 2025, Alex Eala has become a stalwart during her follow-up season in 2026.
The Filipina star has especially been impressive during the summer months, during the grass court swing and the start of the North American hardcourt season.
Eala won the Birmingham Challenger on the grass and followed it up by getting to the semi finals of the Berlin Open and her very first fourth round at Wimbledon.
In North America, Eala won her first WTA Tour level title at the Washington Open, by defeating Jessica Pegula, Naomi Osaka, and Elina Svitolina consecutively.
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As a result of several deep runs at tournaments over the last few months, she now sits above every other player on the WTA Tour in one key area.
Eala has played more matches than any other player so far this season, as she currently sits on 56 matches throughout the first eight months of the year.
Players who have played the most WTA Tour matches in 2026
- Alex Eala – 56 matches
- Jessica Pegula – 51 matches
- Elina Svitolina – 51 matches
- Mirra Andreeva – 50 matches
- Elena Rybakina – 48 matches
That’s more than Pegula, Svitolina, Mirra Andreeva, and Elena Rybakina, the latter of which have won Grand Slam titles during the 2026 season.
Eala has played a whopping 21 tournaments already this year and she shows no signs of slowing down, either. The star is set to play the Cincinnati Open and the US Open and she has already signed up for the Singapore Open in September.
The 21-year-old is at an age where she can play all of these tournaments, but it hard not to think she is burning the candle at both ends in recent months.
She looked particularly tired at the Canadian Open in matches against Caty McNally and Belinda Bencic, the latter of which knocked her out of the tourmament.
She was bagelled in the second set against Bencic and it certainly looked like the amount of tennis she has played recently is starting to catch up with her.
She is yet to take a lengthy break this season, while other players around her have enjoyed a month of two off.
Perhaps the Asian swing is where Eala takes it a little slower, although she will be keen to continue to climb up the rankings and she has points to defend at the back-end of the year.
However, last year she played smaller tournaments such as Jingshan and Suzhou, while she will more than likely play the WTA 1000 events, the China Open and Wuhan Open, so there’s more of a chance to earn much-needed ranking points.
