By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Alex Eala’s much-anticipated reunion with tennis legend Venus Williams will have to wait after the Filipina star withdrew from the doubles competition of this week’s Mubadala DC Open in Washington, D.C.
Tournament organizers had earlier announced on social media that Eala and Williams will be playing in doubles and even shared a video of the two practicing together, but the latest tournament draw showed the seven-time Grand Slam singles champion teaming up with Diana Shnaider instead.
Instead, Eala is focusing on her campaign in the singles where she is scheduled to face Chinese wildcard Zheng Qinwen in the opening round.
While this marks the first time that Eala and Zheng are meeting in a WTA tournament, the two have faced each other in the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games where the Filipina lost to the former world No. 4 Chinese standout in the semifinals.
Zheng eventually won the gold medal after beating fellow Chinese Zhu Lin, while Eala settled for the bronze.
But much so much has changed since their last matchup particularly with Zheng, who missed the first month of the 2026 season including the Australian Open while she continued to recover from a right elbow surgery sustained mid last year.
She fell outside the Top 150 and is currently ranked No.123.
Eala, meanwhile, is coming off an impressive grass-court campaign where she clinched the WTA125 Birmingham Classic title and reached a historic fourth round at the Wimbledon Championships.
Ranked No. 29, the 21-year-old Eala guns for a strong start in the North America hard court swing leading up to the US Open set late next month.
