Eala starts Asian swing

Alex Eala will kick off her Asian swing against a young netter from Belarus in the Jingshan Tennis Open at the Jingshan International Tennis Tournament Center in Hubei Province in China.

The 20-year-old Filipina will be the top seed when she battles Aliona Falei in the Round of 32 of the women’s singles event at 10 a.m. on Monday (Manila time).

It could be a short work for Eala.

Fresh from a brief vacation in Manila, Eala is coming into this $160,000-event as the top seed following her string of strong performances in Mexico and Brazil. In fact, she won her first ever Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) title in the Guadalajara 125 Open in Mexico, boosting her world ranking to No. 57.

Prior to that, she shocked the world with a stunning semifinal run in the Miami Open last April, where she beat former Grand Slam champions Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, Madison Keys of the United States and Iga Swiatek of Poland along the way.

On the contrary, the 21-year-old Falei is a lightweight.

She currently ranks No. 323 with her highest ranking at No. 173 in May of last year. She, however, already made an appearance in the main draw of the French Open and the US Open last year and the Australian Open this year with five International Tennis Federation titles.

Should Eala emerge victorious, she will lock horns with the survivor in the battle between world No. 269 Mei Yamaguchi of Japan and world No. 228 Hong Yi Cody Wong of Hong Kong in the Round of 16.

Despite the overwhelming advantage over her Belarusian foe, Eala is expected to play with extreme caution, knowing that anything can happen in professional tennis.

In fact, during her last event in the Sao Paulo Open in Brazil, Eala got stunned by the lower-ranked Janice Tjen of Indonesia, 4-6, 1-6, in the quarterfinals. Tjen, Eala’s probable Southeast Asian Games opponent, went all the way to the finals before yielding the title to world No. 131 Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah of France. IVAN SUING

After the Jingshan tourney, Eala is expected to stay in China to join the Wuhan Open, a WTA 1000 event, from 6 to 12 October, where she will get to test her mettle anew against the heavyweights of professional tennis, including world No. 1 Aryna Sabenka who pulled out of the 2025 China Open in preparation for her title defense in Wuhan.