Filipinos will get a glimpse of what the future holds for professional tennis when young guns march to Manila to see action in the Philippine Women’s Open that will be held at the newly-refurbished Rizal Memorial Tennis Center on 26 January.
Xinyu Wang, the 24-year-old world No. 57 from China, bannered the cast of young competitors that will see action in the prestigious Women’s Tennis Association (WTA)-125 event that will feature 32 of the best players in the world, including a past Olympic medalist and seasoned competitors.
Interestingly, Xinyu, who made it as far as the fourth round of the US Open in 2023 and the Wimbledon in 2024, is scheduled to clash against Filipino tennis sensation Alex Eala in the semifinals of the Auckland Open in New Zealand on Saturday following her 6-4, 4-3 (ret.) win over Francesca Jones in the quarterfinals of the women’s singles event.
Also included in the list of young players released by the WTA on Thursday are 23-year-old Elina Avanesyan of Armenia, 26-year-old Veronika Erjavec of Slovenia, 22-year-old Polina Kudermetova of Uzbekistan, 24-year-old Camila Osorio of Colombia, 25-year-old Yuliia Starodubtseva of Ukraine, 24-year-old Lulu Sun of New Zealand, and 24-year-old Moyuka Uchijima of Japan.
Eala, who is also part of this youth movement at 20 years old, is expected to go all out if ever she faces No. 86 Sun or No. 89 Uichijima due to their past encounters.
Sun, in fact, sent Eala packing in the semifinals of the Jingshan Tennis Open last year, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, while Uichijima defeated Eala in the qualifying match of the Wuhan Open last year, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.
Eala’s participation in the blue-ribbon event that is being organized by the Philippine Sports Commission and the Philippine Lawn Tennis Association, however, still depends on her performance in the Australian Open that is set to start on 18 January. If ever Eala does not make it, a Filipina netter will be invited to take her wildcard spot.
“If it were to happen, I would be so happy, and it’s just such a milestone for Philippine tennis. Not just obviously for me, but for everybody there because growing up we never had these kinds of tournaments. As long as I can remember,” Eala said.
“We didn’t even have a 15k in professional international tournaments. So to come in with a WTA 125 is such a big step and I’m so proud of how far we’ve come and you know it’s only the start.”
Aside from the youngsters, also seeing action in the Philippine Open are seasoned campaigners led by world No. 17 Donna Vekic of Croatia, world No. 45 Tatjana Maria of Germany and world No. 66 Solana Sierra of Argentina, guaranteeing slam-bang encounters that keep Filipino fans at the edge of their seats.