Alex Eala is provisionally ranked inside the top 50 of the WTA Rankings for the first time of her career after benefiting from a retirement in her first Hong Kong Tennis Open match.
World No 51 Eala was handed a tough opening-round draw on paper at the WTA 250 event against Katie Boulter, who was a finalist at the tournament back in 2024.
However, the British star has had a difficult 2025 season, affected by injury and inconsistency, and her 2025 season came to a disappointing end after she was forced to retire with injury early in the second set.
Eala had broken to claim a topsy-turvy first set and was leading 6-4, 2-1 on serve when world No 79 Boulter retired, with the Brit now set to drop outside the top 90 of the WTA Rankings.
It is not the way that any player chooses to win a match, and Eala sent her best wishes to her opponent during her on-court interview
She said: “This time of the year is a tough moment for a lot of players, physically and mentally, being the end of the season.
“I hope that Katie can take this time to recover and just look back at her season proudly.”
Coming into Hong Kong, Eala was at her career-high ranking of 51st in the world, and was level on points with world No 50 Anastasia Potapova, with both women holding 1,131 points in the WTA Rankings.
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However, by progressing to the second round, the 20-year-old has moved to 1,143 points in the WTA Live Rankings, and has provisionally moved to world No 50.
Only three women in action this week — Alycia Parks in Jiangxi, Cristina Bucsa in Hong Kong, and Francesca Jones in Chennai — can hold more than 1,143 points by the end of the week, and all three would need to win the title at their respective tournaments.
That means that Eala is within touching distance of yet another major breakthrough during what has been a landmark 2025 campaign, though she could boost her hopes further by reaching the quarter-final.
Victory in the second round would see her move to 1,167 points, but the Filipina is an underdog in her next match against third seed Victoria Mboko.
Another star who has soared up the WTA Rankings in 2025, Mboko initially struggled after her triumph at the Canadian Open in August.
However, she returned to winning ways with a run to the quarter-final of the Pan Pacific Open last week, and rallied from a set down to beat Talia Gibson on Tuesday.
It will be the first tour-level meeting between the two rising stars, with the winner then facing sixth seed Anna Kalinskaya or Zhang Shuai in the last eight.