Alex Eala is keeping her full attention on singles play as she begins her campaign in the Washington Open at the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center.

The 21-year-old said she was honored by the opportunity to team up again with seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams, but believes she is not yet in the right frame of mind to balance both singles and doubles this week.

Eala will face former world No. 4 and Paris Olympics gold medalist Qinwen Zheng of China in the Round of 32 on Tuesday.

"I have so much respect for Venus. I am so grateful for every opportunity that I have to be around her, to learn from her, to hit with her. But I do think this is my first week coming back, and I think that Venus is someone who deserves a partner who can give their all physically, emotionally, mentally when they're on court with her," Eala said.

"I think right now I can only do that for singles. I don't have the capacity yet to be able to give that in both singles and doubles."

The Washington Open marks Eala's first tournament of her North American hard-court swing as she gears up for the US Open on 30 August.

She is also set to compete in the Canadian Open from 1 to 13 August, where she received a first-round bye by virtue of her No. 29 ranking in the Women's Tennis Association.

Eala said she hopes to reunite with Williams in doubles after the pair teamed up at the Bad Homburg Open in Germany last June.

"I'm really grateful for the opportunity that I had, or have, and hopefully we see more of it in the future," Eala said.

Williams, who will instead partner world No. 18 Diana Shnaider in Washington, also expressed hope that she and Eala can play together again.

"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."