Alex Eala faces off world No. 39 Hailey Baptiste of the United States in the Round of 64 to start her campaign in the Dubai Tennis Championships in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday.

World No. 40 Eala and the 24-year-old Baptiste do battle at 11 p.m. (Manila time) in what will be a will be a rematch of their Eastbourne Open qualifiers game last June.

Eala won over Baptiste, 6-7, 7-6, 6-1, in their first match against each other.

The 20-year-old Rafael Nadal Academy alumna got a direct slot while Baptiste had to go through two qualifying rounds to make it into the main draw of this prestigious Women's Tenis Association (WTA) 1000 draw.

Baptiste defeated Zhang Shuai of China, 6-4, 6-4, and Rebecca Šramková of Slovakia, 6-3, 7-5, in the qualifiers to advance to the main draw.

A win by Eala will pit her against world No. 8 Jasmine Paolini of Italy in the Round of 32.

The Dubai Tennis Championships is Eala's third and final competition in the Middle East after the Abu Dhabi Open and Qatar Open.