Eala out of WTA Finals contention   

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...