The silver medalist in the Paris Olympics will be blocking Alex Eala’s path when she competes in the Round of 32 of the Auckland Open on Monday at the Manuka Doctor Arena in New Zealand.

The 20-year-old Eala enters the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) 250 competition as the fourth seed, looking to continue the momentum she gained from her campaign last year that was capped by a gold medal in the 33rd Southeast Asian Games in Bangkok last month.

A graduate of the Rafael Nadal Academy, Eala is using the Auckland Open as part of her preparation for the Australian Open, which starts on 18 January.

Aside from the Auckland Open, Eala is also set to join the Kooyong Classic on 13 January in Melbourne before plunging into her fourth career Grand Slam.

But she is facing Vekic — a very competitive foe who can shatter her plan heading into her first Grand Slam event of the year.

The 29-year-old Vekic, whose career high in the WTA ranking was No. 17 before falling to No. 69 will be a tough nut to crack as she challenged Zheng Qinwen of China in the gold medal match of the Paris Olympics two years ago.

She boasts four WTA titles and made it to the semifinal of the Wimbledon Championships in 2024 and the quarterfinal of the Australian Open in 2023 and the US Open in 2019.

But more than that, she is on the provisional list of 32-woman competitors that will see action in the Philippine Women’s Open on 26 January at the newly-refurbished Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.

Should Eala get past Vekic, she will face the winner between Croatian netter Petra Marcinko and Camila Osorio of Colombia.

Powerhouse players like Janice Tjen of Indonesia, Panna Udvardy of Hungary and Katie Boulter of Great Britain are also in the field of the Auckland Open, giving Eala an early acid test before the Australian Open.