Alex Eala hopes to end the year with a bang as she competes in the MGM Macau Tennis Masters at the Macao Forum in Macau on Saturday and Sunday.

Coming off a triumphant Southeast Asian (SEA) Games campaign last week where she won a gold medal in the women’s singles, the 20-year-old Eala will try to cap her campaign with a victory in this two-day exhibition event that features the best tennis players in the world.

Eala will be on the same team as two-time Grand Slam champion Li Na of China and Ugo Humbert of France and Chinese netter Jerry Shang.

She will kick off her campaign with Shang when they face world No. 9 Mirra Andreeva and Yibing Wu of China, who are playing for 1994 Wimbledon champion Conchita Martínez of Spain, in the mixed doubles event on Saturday at 2 p.m. (Manila time).

Then, Eala and Andreeva will collide in the women’s singles event on Sunday at 2 p.m. (Manila time) at the same venue in a battle that will serve as a rematch of their 2022 US Open junior girls tournament.

Eala swept Andreeva, 6-4, 6-0, in the quarterfinal at Flushing Meadows to win her third Junior Grand Slam title in her career.

Since that encounter, both netters went their separate paths.

Andreeva, who made it as high as No. 5 in the WTA rankings, made her mark in the 2023 Mutua Madrid Open, where she advanced to the fourth round before losing to eventual champion Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, 6-3, 6-1.

The Russian prodigy went on to win two Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) titles this year: The Dubai Tennis Championships last February after beating Clara Tauson of Denmark, 7-6, 6-1, and the Indian Wells Open last March where she defeated Sabalenka, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Andreeva, who became the youngest WTA 1000 winner at 17 years old, was even a silver medalist in the 2024 Paris Olympics with Russian teammate Diana Shnaider under the banner of Individual Neutral Athletes after making it to the final of the women’s doubles before losing to the Italian pair of Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini.

Unlike her Russian rival, it took Eala three years before she finally broke through the Top 100 of the WTA.

Eala made waves at the Miami Open last March as she defeated Grand Slam champions like Jelena Ostapenko of Poland, Madison Keys of the United States and World No. 2 Iga Swiatek of Poland on her way to the semifinal.