By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Alex Eala begins her grass-court season this week when she competes in the Lexus Birmingham Open in Great Britain.
After a short clay court stint that included a main draw debut appearance at the French Open, Eala immediately shifted her focus as the singles third seed in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA125) tournament.
The 20-year-old Filipina tennis trailblazer is scheduled to meet Czech Republic’s Linda Fruhvirtova in the opening round on Tuesday, June 3, where she hopes to regain that explosive firepower she displayed at the hard courts of the Miami Open last March.
Fruhvirtova is just a few weeks older than Eala, but has already won a WTA Tour title in 2022 at the Chennai Open in India after beating Magda Linnet in three sets. She ranked as high as No. 49 in June last year, and is currently at No. 154.
Eala, for her part, is at No. 73 in the world and is fresh from a first-round maind draw finish at the French Open. She, however, secured her first Grand Slam main draw win in the doubles after she and Mexican Renata Zarazua downed British Emily Appleton and Spaniard Yvonne Cavelle-Reimers in the opening round of the French Open. The duo, however, lost in the second round.
Eala is also campaigning in the doubles in Birmingham as she and Swiss Rebeka Masarova are battling Australian second seed Ellen Perez and Storm Hunter.
In the WTA doubles rankings, Eala is at No. 225.
