FILIPINO tennis ace Alex Eala is already eliminated from WTA Finals contention after skipping the WTA 1000 China Open for the 20th Asian Games in Japan. Currently at No. 17, an “X” is already placed next to Eala’s name in the WTA live race Monday, signifying that she’s no longer in contention for the season-ending event. The WTA Finals is slated from Nov. 8 to 15 in Indian Wells. World No. 18 Eala missed out on precious China Open ranking points to play for the Philippines in the Asiad, where she made a semifinal finish for a bronze medal. The decision to skip China Open ensured that Eala won’t reach the top eight in the cutoff deadline on Nov. 1. Sporting 2,181 points this season, Eala is 2,173 behind current No. 8 Linda Noskova who holds 4,354 as of posting time. Even if Eala joined the China Open, it would have been improbable for her to overtake Noskova. Overtaking the Czech netter meant that the Filipino player would need to go deep in the tournament while the former would need to make a quick exit. Then, that scenario would have needed to repeat at the Wuhan Open — the last 1000 event of the year — for Eala to truly close the gap and give herself a fighting chance to take the No. 8 spot. A quick exit in China would have quickly eliminated Eala from the WTA Finals contention anyway. Even world No. 14 Diana Shnaider got booted out after reaching the third round in Beijing, giving her a total of 2,408 only which is even 227 higher than Eala’s total points. Taking this to account, Eala’s decision to skip China for the Asiad proved sound albeit she will suffer fines and likely be disqualified for season-ending bonuses. World No. 1 Elena Rybakina (7,492) and No. 2 Aryna Sabalenaka (6,485) are so far the only players who have qualified for the WTA Finals, which has a 5,915-point qualification cut. World No. 3 Jessica Pegula (5,825), No. 4 Mirra Andreeva (5,722), and No. 5 Coco Gauff (5,654) are closing in on the threshold. World No. 6 Elina Svitonlina (4,809), No. 7 Karolina Muchova (4,400), No. 8 Noskova (4,234), No. 9 Marta Kostyuk (3,910), and No. 10 Iga Swiatek (3,584) are within striking distance.