Tough foes, hefty reward await Alex

The road to glory will not be easy as Alex Eala faces a string of heavy hitters in the Australian Open at Court 6 of Melbourne Park in Melbourne.

Enjoying her career-best ranking of No. 49, the Filipino sensation will launch her campaign against Alycia Parks at 9:40 a.m. on Monday for a win that will match her best performance in any Grand Slam event.

Although the 25-year-old Parks is way lower than her in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) ranking at No. 100, she remains a dangerous foe after making a deep run in the Australian Open last year.

In fact, Parks made it all the way to the third round after posting impressive wins over Sara Bejlek of Czech Republic and Filipino-Canadian Leylah Fernandez before eventually bowing to compatriot Coco Gauff in the previous edition of the season-opening Grand Slam event last year.

After that, she reached the second round of the French Open and the Wimbledon before making an early exit in the US Open.

The 6-foot-1 Parks, however, has reached a career-best ranking of No. 40 after ruling the Lyon Open in 2023.

On the other hand, Eala is just in the early stretch of her Grand Slam campaign as had gotten past the opening round of the Grand Slam once when she stunned Clara Tauson of Denmark in the US Open last year.

If Eala manages to breeze past Parks, she will move on to the second round against the survivor in the opening-round encounter between Karolina Muchova of Czech Republic and Jacqueline Cristian of Romania in the second round.

Ranked No. 19, Muchova knows what it takes to go deep in a Grand Slam event as she has reached the quarterfinals of all four majors, including the final of the French Open in 2023, where she lost to six-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek of Poland.

Meanwhile, the world No. 37 Cristian is coming off a solid 2025 campaign that saw her advancing as far as the third round of the Australian Open, French Open and US Open.

Should Eala prevail and advance to the third round, a potential opponent will be a powerhouse American in world No. 15 Emma Navarro.

Reigning champion Madison Keys of the United States — the world No. 9 — is also in the same bracket, giving Eala a chance to prove that her stunning victory over her in the Miami Open last year was no fluke as well as 45-year-old legend Venus Williams.

But a magical run deserves a hefty reward.

By merely playing in the Round of 128, Eala stands to pocket her third-biggest purse from a single tournament as Australian Open first-rounders get $150,000 or roughly P8.9 million.

If Eala, whose biggest prize money of $332,160 came from the Miami Open makes it to the second round, she will pocket $225,000 (P13.3 million) and if she makes it to the third and fourth rounds, she will bank in $327,750 (P19.4 million) and $480,000 (P28.5 million), respectively.

Eala’s appearance in the Australian Open is just perfect as organizers boosted their biggest prize pool in history from $96.5 million in 2025 to $111.5 million with the champion securing a mouthwatering $4,150,000 while the finalists will get $2,150,000, semifinalists $1,250,000 and quarterfinalists $750,000.

That’s a lot of money for a two-week job.