Eala faces busy day

Alex Eala plunges into action in both the women’s singles and doubles events of the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo on Monday.

The 21-year-old Filipina, ranked world No. 20, faces world No. 281 Mika Stojsavljevic of Great Britain in the Round of 32 of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) 500 tournament, with the match schedule yet to be announced at press time.

Eala hopes to make a strong run in Tokyo after bowing out of the Ningbo Open in China last week with a 5-7, 4-6 loss to world No. 13 Diana Shnaider of Russia.

Despite being favored against Stojsavljevic, Eala will be looking to avoid another upset following her recent setbacks on the WTA Tour.

She previously lost to world No. 117 Tatiana Prozorova of Russia in the Singapore Tennis Open before absorbing another setback against world No. 217 Shi Han of China in the Wuhan Open.

A victory over Stojsavljevic would pit Eala against either a qualifier or world No. 42 Talia Gibson of Australia in the next round.

Eala is also guaranteed $17,795, or around P1.1 million, if she advances to the Round of 16.

Later in the day, she will team up with Filipino-American Desirae Krawczyk in the women’s doubles, where they face Chan Hao-ching of Chinese Taipei and Kato Miyu of Japan in the Round of 16.

The 32-year-old Krawczyk brings considerable experience to the partnership, having won four Grand Slam mixed doubles titles.

She claimed the French Open and US Open crowns in 2021 before adding Wimbledon titles in 2021 and 2022.

Should Eala and Krawczyk advance, they will face either the top-seeded tandem of Luisa Stefani of Brazil and Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada or the pairing of Filipino-Canadian Leylah Fernandez of Canada and Cristina Bucsa of Spain in the quarterfinal.