By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
There will be no rest for Filipina tennis star Alex Eala as she returns to action on Tuesday, Sept. 30, at the Suzhou WTA 125 tournament in China – three days after her stunning semis defeat at the Jingshan Open.
The 20-year-old Alex Eala is seeded fourth in the WTA 125 tournament, which offers a total prize purse of $115,000.
She enters the event with a live WTA singles ranking of No. 57 – one spot higher than last week.
Eala was the only Top 100 player in the Jingshan Open but lost to Lulu Sun of New Zealand in a hard-fought three-set semis match.
In Suzhou, Eala launches her title drive against the 32-year-old Polish player Katarzyna Kawa, who is currently ranked No. 124 in the world.
This will be the second meeting between Eala and Kawa, with their first encounter taking place three years ago at the W60 Templeton event on the International Tennis Federation circuit, where the Polish player won in three sets.
Both players have improved since then, particularly Eala, who has remained in the Top 100 following her breakthrough performance at the Miami Open earlier this year. She also celebrated her maiden WTA title with a victory at the Guadalajara Open earlier this month.
Kawa, meanwhile, is coming off a stint at the China Open, where she lost in the second round of the qualifiers.
World No. 37 Iva Jovic is seeded first in the event, while also seeing action are world No. 44 Tatjana Maria, third seed Suzan Lamens and Sun.
