Manila, Feb. 4 -- Alex Eala, the country's top junior tennis player, climbed to career-high No. 4 in the latest girls' ranking of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) after ruling the juniors women's doubles competition in the Australian Open in Melbourne over the weekend.
The Filipina tennis sensation jumped five ranks up from ninth place last month with 1,718.75 accumulated points.
Eala was initially tipped to go up to No. 8 in the world, but the impact of her semifinal win turned out to be a factor for her to go inside the Top 5 behind No. 1 Diane Parry of France (2,356.25 points), No. 2 Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva of Andorra (1,971.25 points) and No. 3 Daria Snigur of Ukraine (1,930 points).
Eala teamed up with Indonesia's Prisk...