Grudge match

Alex Eala opens her Hong Kong Tennis Open campaign against a familiar opponent as she faces world No. 65 Alycia Parks of the United States in the Round of 32 on Monday at Victoria Park Tennis Stadium.

The world No. 19 Filipina enters the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) 250 tournament as the second seed, looking to make a strong run in the final stretch of the season.

Monday’s encounter will be the third meeting between Eala and Parks, with both players splitting their first two matches.

Parks won their first encounter, recovering from an opening-set loss to defeat Eala, 0-6, 3-6, 6-2, in the first round of the Australian Open last January.

Eala got even in August, beating the American, 6-1, 4-6, 6-2, in the Round of 64 of the Canadian Open.

The Filipina will look to carry that momentum into Hong Kong, where she hopes to build on her recent performances and make another deep run on the WTA Tour as she intends to delay reflecting on her season until after the tournament, keeping her focus on the challenge ahead.

“I’m super excited, and I’m going in with high motivation,” Eala said.

“I’m trying to put my reflections off for one more week because of said motivation.”

Eala will be entering the Hong Kong Tennis Open oozing with confidence as she pushed world No. 13 Diana Shnaider of Russia before losing 6-2, 6-7, 4-6 in the quarterfinal of the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo last week.

With both players already familiar with each other’s strengths, Eala will need to sustain her level throughout the match against the powerful American.

A victory would send the second seed into the Round of 16 against either world No. 87 Tereza Valentova of the Czech Republic or world No. 405 Sun Xinran of China.

Leylah Fernandez, the Filipino-Canadian who placed second behind Shnaider in Tokyo, will be in Hong Kong as well.

Eala will be aiming to make the most of her seeding and motivation as she begins her Hong Kong campaign with a chance to move closer to another WTA title.

The Filipina ace is slated to earn $4,285 or around P273,000 if she makes it to the Last 32.

Eala is hoping to make it to the Top 15 in what is her last tournament in the WTA Tour this year.

She wants to end her 2026 campaign on a high note after winning a WTA 500 title in the Washington Open last August.