Power over pain: Eala to brush off discomfort, seeks quarters spot

Alex Eala is not in perfect shape heading into the Round of 16 of the WTA 125 Philippine Women’s Open on Wednesday at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.

But the 20-year-old phenom refused to let the discomfort distract her in her quest for supremacy in the first-ever staging of a Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) tournament at home.

With a massive Filipino crowd rallying behind her, Eala is expected to brush off her hamstring injury and pour everything she has when she battles either Neo Hibino or Himeno Sakatsume of Japan in the Round of 16 of the women’s singles event.

Hibino and Sakatsume are still competing in the Round of 32 at press time with the survivor marching to the Last 16 against the red-hot Filipino sensation in this tournament organized by the Philippine Sports Commission and the Philippine Lawn Tennis Association as part of the government’s aggressive effort to promote sports tourism in the country.

Playing her first-ever professional tournament at home, Eala proved that she’s good as advertised, essaying a convincing 6-1, 6-2 win over world No. 163 Alina Charaeva of Russia in their Round of 32 duel at the jampacked Center Court late Sunday.

But there was a scary moment in the early stretch of the second set when Eala asked for a medical timeout after trailing, 1-2. Fortunately for the massive home crowd, the No. 2 seed made her way back into the game sporting a bandage on her left thigh.

From there, Eala asserted her dominance, ruling the next six games with impressive baseline winners from both sides of the court that sent her Russian foe reeling.

After Eala whipped two unreachable forehand shots down the line, the Charaeva finally fell with a long forehand, capping the big night for the Filipina ace after one hour and 16 minutes of action.

“There’s a bit of discomfort, nothing serious. I still have a day to spend, to relax, wake up tomorrow and see how I feel,” the world No. 49 Eala said during the post-match news conference.

“I think pain is definitely part of an athlete’s lifestyle. We have to find ways to best manage that and not let it affect us mentally.”

But her mission is still far from over.

The Rafael Nadal Academy alumnus stressed that she can’t afford to be complacent as Hibino or Sakatsume are both capable of pulling off a surprise.

After all, the 31-year-old Hibino is a regular professional tour campaigner who had a career-best ranking of No. 56 in January of 2016. She also made it to the second round of Grand Slam events like the Australian Open in 2020 and 2021, French Open in 2020, 2021 and 2025, Wimbledon in 2021 and the US Open in 2017.

Hibino, who now ranks 187 in the world, also boasts three WTA titles, including the Prague Open in 2023 where she defeated Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic, 6-4, 6-1.

On the other hand, the 24-year-old Sakatsune is fresh from a first-round exit in the Australian Open after losing to Caty McNally of the United States, 3-6, 1-6, making her determined to conquer the PWO and take home the $115,000 cash prize.

Eala said she and her coach Joan Bosch of Spain, have to watch both Hibino and Sakatsune closely and make some key adjustments heading into the crucial match.

“I think every match is different. It’s hard to generalize or categorize the way things flow during a match. It’s different every single time,“ said Eala, who is also using the PWO as a warm-up tourney for the WTA 500 event in Abu Dhabi that starts on Sunday.

”It depends on you, it depends on the opponent, it depends on the day — it can depend on so many things. But I think I played really well today. I was able to maintain a level throughout the match, so I’m happy with that.”

A victory for Eala will set her up with a quarterfinal match between fifth seed Camila Osorio of Colombia and Japanese netter Mai Hontama, who swept Filipina Elizabeth Abarquez, 6-0, 6-0, in the second qualifying round.