An Olympic gold medalist and former world No. 4 will test Alex Eala’s mettle as she opens her Washington Open campaign in the Round of 32 on Monday at the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center.

The 21-year-old Eala will face Paris Olympics champion and Asian Games gold medalist Zheng Qinwen of China, with the match time yet to be announced.

It will mark the start of her North American hard-court swing as she builds up for the US Open, which begins on 30 August.

Eala was supposed to compete in the Washington Open women’s doubles with seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams and had even trained with her.

But a last-minute change saw Williams pair up with world No. 18 Diana Shnaider instead, although she expressed hope of joining forces with Eala again in the future.

“We had a great time playing at Bad Homburg, so we were looking forward to playing again. It didn’t work out this time,” Williams said.

“I would love for there to be future opportunities. We’ll see what happens.”

For now, Eala will focus on her matchup with Zheng as she guns for her first win in the prestigious Women’s Tennis Association 500 tournament.

Eala enters the tournament brimming with confidence after reaching the Round of 16 of the Wimbledon Championships.

She is also well-rested after taking a one-week break in the Philippines, where she spent time meeting with fans.

Meanwhile, Zheng has been in a slump since suffering a right elbow injury last year.

The 23-year-old Chinese star has endured back-to-back early Grand Slam exits after losing in the first round of both the French Open and Wimbledon.