A star-studded cast of competitors is expected to see action when the Philippine Women’s Tennis Open unwraps on 26 January at the newly-refurbished Rizal Memorial Tennis Center in Manila.

Philippine Tennis Association (Philta) secretary general John Rey Tiangco said world No. 53 Alex Eala remains doubtful but they will not lack in star power when they host this historic event that will give the winner 125 ranking points in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) ranking.

Leading the highly-competitive field that was released by the WTA is former world No. 17 and Olympic silver medalist Donna Vekic of Croatia, No. 45 Tatjana Maria of Germany as well as No. 57 Xinyu Wang of China, No. 66 Solana Sierra of Argentina, No. 90 Lulu Sun of New Zealand and No. 94 Moyuka Uchijima of Japan.

Also included in the 32-woman field in this blue-ribbon event organized by Philta and the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) are Kazakhstan’s Yulina Putintseva (No. 71), Colombia’s Camila Osorio (No. 77), China’s Yue Yuan (No. 83), Switzerland’s Simona Waltert (No. 87), and Australia’s Kimberly Berrell (No. 98).

Eala, who made a lot of heads turn with a magical performance in the Miami Open last year, was given a wildcard spot together with her Southeast Asian rival, Janice Tjen of Indonesia, but her availability all depends on her performance in the Australian Open that will kick off on 17 January in Melbourne.

The 20-year-old Filipina is now in New Zealand for the Auckland Open, which serves as a warmup event for the Australian Open.

“If Alex keeps winning and makes it to the third round, she won’t be able to compete here,” said Tiangco, adding that it’s going to be a “beautiful problem” if Eala will not be available due to her deep run in the Australian Open — the first Grand Slam event of the year.

“It won’t be a problem as there have been a lot of tennis players who have signed up. We will have players from 18 countries.”

Tiangco, PSC chairman Patrick “Pato” Gregorio and other ranking sports officials inspected the venue last Friday and declared that it is now ready to host this world-class tournament.

“Only 22 days to go before WTA 125. So no Christmas break, no New Year break. No holiday break. Everybody’s here, Philta is here, (PSC) commissioners, PSC people are here,” Gregorio said.

“We’re all here just to make sure we transform Rizal Tennis (Center) as a showcase for the first-ever hosting of the WTA 125 in Manila.”

Still, even without Eala, the field will be very competitive with the presence of the big guns, WTA top 100 players and the world’s best young netters.

The right-handed Vekic is a product of the famed IMG Academy founded by noted American tennis instructor Nick Bolletieri that also produced the likes of Grand Slam champions Andre Agassi, Jim Courier, Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams, among others.

Since turning pro at 17, the Croatian, who has four career titles, has earned a whopping $10,217,035 (around P601 million) over her career and does charity work in her hometown of Osijek, opening three public courts modelled after Grand Slam venues.

On the other hand, Maria, 38, who reached a career-high of No. 36, showed that she has not lost her edge despite her age, achieving a stirring win at the Queen Club Championships in June last year for her fourth WTA Title.

She outplayed fancied young American Amanda Asiminova, 23, 6-3, 6-4 in the women’s singles finals, becoming the oldest woman at 37 to win a WTA 500 singles plum. She was also among the oldest to be victorious on the WTA tour since Serena Wiliams did it in the ASB Classic in Auckland in 2020 at 38.

Now with two children and handled by husband-coach Charles Maria, the tennis player also reached the 2022 Wimbledon semifinals and has four career titles under her belt.

The highest rated player in the main draw after Maria is Xinxu, whose claim to fame was teaming up with Taiwanese doubles legend Hsieh Shu-Wei in clinching the 2023 French Open women’s doubles crown.

Wang combined with Shu-wei brilliantly in coming from behind to stun the tandem of Filipino-Canadian Leylah Fernandez and American Taylor Townsend 1-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-1 in the finals.