Eala, Turkish pal battle Ukrainians

World No. 18 Alex Eala returns to the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Tour in the Wuhan Open, teaming up with world No. 58 Zeynep Sonmez of Turkey against Ukrainians Dayana Yastremska and Anhelina Kalinina in the doubles event on Monday at the Optics Valley International Tennis Centre in Wuhan, China.

The match schedule has yet to be announced as of press time.

It will be Eala’s first appearance since taking a bronze medal in the women’s singles at the 20th Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan. She is also seeded 13th in the singles draw of the WTA 1000 tournament, with her first-round opponent yet to be announced.

After avoiding penalties for skipping the China Open to compete in the Asian Games, Eala shifts her focus back to the WTA Tour as she looks to collect more ranking points.

World No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, No. 3 Jessica Pegula of the United States, No. 5 Mirra Andreeva of Russia, No. 6 Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic, No. 7 Elina Svitolina, No. 8 Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic, No. 9 Iga Swiatek of Poland and No. 10 Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine are among the top players in the field and have received first-round byes as well.

For the 21-year-old Eala, the challenge is to keep performing under pressure as she grows more comfortable competing in difficult situations.

“I think one thing that I’ve learned in the past couple of months about myself is my capacity to suffer and be in those situations where you’re uncomfortable and you’re out of breath and you’re nervous,” Eala said.

“And of course, it’s always easier to enjoy when you’re winning, and when you’re winning, you forget what it feels like to be losing consecutively, I feel like,” she added.

Eala and Sonmez are guaranteed $11,500, or roughly P721,000, for reaching the doubles main draw. A win over Yastremska and Kalinina would send them to the Round of 16, where they would earn $17,200, or about P1 million.