Alex Eala will open her Cincinnati Open campaign against world No. 77 Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania in the Round of 64 with the time and date yet to be announced.

It will be the second meeting between the two players, with Ruse previously defeating the 21-year-old Eala, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4, in the third round of the US Open qualifiers and denying the Filipina her maiden Grand Slam main-draw appearance at the time.

Eala is coming off a short break following her Round of 16 exit in the Canadian Open, where she fell to world No. 12 Belinda Bencic of Switzerland, 4-6, 0-6, last Monday.

Thanks to her career-high No. 20 ranking, Eala is the No. 17 seed in this prestigious Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) 1000 tournament and received a first-round bye.

Ruse, meanwhile, booked her spot in the second round after sweeping world No. 41 Magda Linette of Poland, 6-0, 6-3.

The winner of the Eala-Ruse clash will face either home bet and world No. 10 Amanda Anisimova or world No. 50 Zeynep Sonmez of Turkey in the Round of 32.

The Cincinnati Open is the third stop of Eala’s North American swing following her title run at the Washington Open and her breakthrough campaign in the Canadian Open.

Eala will earn $26,255 or around P1.6 million just by entering the tournament, while a spot in the Round of 32 would increase her prize money to $47,375 or roughly P2.9 million.

Eala is still searching for her first WTA 1000 title, with her best finish coming at last year’s Miami Open, where she reached the semifinals in a breakthrough run.

While an early exit in Cincinnati would be a setback, it would also give Eala additional time to rest and recover before turning her attention to the US Open, which begins on 30