LINZ, Austria — Even sliding down from No. 17 to 19, it's no fluke that our Filipina rising star Alexandra 'Alex' Eala has risen among the world's top tennis players as she has figured prominently while drawing the crowds at the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) live race to the finals on Sunday.

Toting 711 points, Eala this time didn't have any of her points shaven since the race to the Finals only counts the players' points in the current season and resets after.

The tournament's top eight will advance to the finals while the No. 9 and 10 players have been listed as reserves. Eala is still at No. 17 in the official race ranking and this will reflect today.

Russian Anna Kalinskaya and American Madison Keys climbing the ladder is what pushed Eala two notches down.

Officially No. 22, Kalinskaya rose to No. 16 in the live race rankings with 739 points following her quarterfinal finish at the Charleston Open. On the other hand, Keys elevated from No. 27 in the official rankings to 13 with 781 points after her semifinal finish at the same tournament.

World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka still leads the race with 3,800 points followed by Elena Rybakina with 3,483 and Jessica Pegula with 2,730. Elina Svitonlina and Karolina Muchova rounded out the top five with 2,255 and 1,945 points, respectively.

Eala is out to add to her points in the race to the finals rankings as well as in the official rankings at the WTA 500 Linz Open in Austria, which runs from April 6 to 17, albeit there's no draw for the main draw as of writing yet.

The country's pride faces a tough field in Linz that features No. 10 and top seed Mirra Andreeva, No. 13 Ekaterina Alexandrova, No. 17 Clara Tauson, No. 21 Liudmila Samsonova, No. 23 Jelena Ostapenko, No. 29 Sorana Cirstea, No. 35 Jaqueline Cristian and No. 37 Ann Li.