Former world No. 2 and Paris Olympic silver medalist Donna Krevic of Croatia and resurgent German veteran Tatjana Maria head the impressive list of early entries in the inaugural Philippine Women’s Open kicking off Jan. 26 at the newly-refurbished Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.
Both were on the provisional list of 24 players released over the weekend by the Women’s Tennis Association in the 32-player draw for the country’s first WTA 125 tournament.
World No. 53 Alex Eala, the face of PH tennis the past three years, is likely to miss the biggest event the country is hosting in decades as she is to compete in the Australian Open – the first of four Grand Slam events.
Eala, however, has been awarded a wild card in the event she and Indonesia’s Janice Tjien (No. 56) are available when the event beginsas the Australian Open runs from Jan. 18 to Feb. 1 at the Melbourne Park hardcourts in Melbourne, Australia.
For her impressive showing in the WTA last year, Eala has secured a main draw in the Melbourne event which is already a big achievement on her part.
Ranked second in the WTA ratings at the turn of 2024, Krevic, 29, a 2024 French Open semifinalist, is now ranked No. 69 but still remains among the players to watch in the blue-ribbon competition organized by the Philippine Tennis Association and supported by the Philippine Sports Commission.
Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Chairman Patrick Gregorio and Philippine Tennis Association (PHILTA) officials inspected the progress of the facility’s refurbishment on Friday.
“We’re all here just to make sure we transform Rizal Tennis [Center] as a showcase for the first-ever hosting of the WTA 125 in Manila,” said Gregorio.
Krevic and Maria, ranked No. 46, are among the 10 players in the WTA top 100 of the prestigious tournament sanctioned by the WTA and supported by the Philippine Sports Commission.
‘The highest rated player in the main draw after Maria is China’s Xinxu Wang (No. 57), whose claim to fame was teaming up with Taiwanese doubles legend Hsieh Shu-Wei in clinching the 2023 French Open women’s doubles crown.
Also vying in the netfest are Kazakhstan’s Yulina Putintseva (No. 71), Colombia’s Camila Osorio (No. 77), China’s Yue Yuan (No. 83), Switzerland’s Simona Waltert (No. 87), New Zealand’s Lulu Sun (No. 90), Japan’s Moyuka Uchijima (No. 94) and Australia’s Kimberly Berrell (No. 98).
