Belarusian set to challenge Eala

It’s expected to be a short work for Alex Eala as she battles a young netter from Belarus in the Round of 32 of the Jingshan Tennis Open women’s singles event at the Jingshan International Tennis Tournament Center in Hubei Province in China on Tuesday.

The world No. 57 Filipina will lock horns with 21-year-old Aliona Falei at 10 a.m. (Manila time) with her sights fixed on her second Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) title of her career. 

The 20-year-old Rafael Nadal Academy graduate is coming off a short break in Manila after competing in both the Guadalajara 125 Open in Mexico and the Sao Paulo Open in Brazil where she won a title and tallied seven straight wins.

Should Eala go all the way and win the title, she will take home $15,500 — or around P884,000 — and ranking points that would boost her WTA standing.

On paper, Eala should have no problem breezing past the 21-year-old Falei.

Falei 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.

Eala will take on either world No. 269 Mei Yamaguchi of Japan and world No. 228 Hong Yi Cody Wong of Hong Kong in the Round of 16 should she victorious against Falei.

But after her recent 4-6, 1-6 loss to world No. 103 Janice Tjen of Indonesia in the quarterfinal of the Sao Paulo Open, Eala will approach her latest match with extreme caution to prevent any potential disaster.

Eala is expected to stay in China to join the Wuhan Open, a WTA 1000 event, from 6 to 12 October, where she gets 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.