WITH another shot at reigning Wimbledon queen Linda Noskova in sight, newly minted D.C. Open champ Alexandra “Alex” Eala faces Alycia Parks at the WTA 1000 National Bank Open Sobeys Stadium Center Court in Toronto on Thursday.
The round of 64 (second round) match between the Filipino tennis ace and the American hitter is set for 8 a.m. the earliest in Manila.
Seeded No. 25, world No. 20 Eala received a first-round bye, granting her direct passage to the second round.
World No. 71 Parks defeated No. 122 Victoria Jiménez Kasintseva in the first round, 6-4, 6-4, to forge a rematch with Eala, whom she topped at the Australian Open first round, 6-0, 3-6, 2-6, last January.
Just a day removed from winning her first Tour-level title in Washington, Eala touched on how she’s transitioning from celebration to preparation for another match.
“It’s been a crazy 24 hours, and my mind’s just been going back and forth between focusing on the next match and ‘wow, did I really just do that?’ It’s a first for me. So, I’m learning how to handle it,” said Eala in her pretournament presser.
“But yeah, I do understand that I’m playing another match tomorrow, so all my attention is going to be on that. You know, I’m slowly transitioning. I have a day to transition, and I have I guess all my life to celebrate my first WTA title.”
The 21-year-old Eala aims for a payback win against the 25-year-old Parks to arrange another match against world No. 7 and tournament No. 6 seed Noskova.
Noskova is heavily favored to win her second-round match against No. 70 Caty McNally also on Thursday.
The 21-year-old Czech sensation hold a 2-0 head-to-head record against Eala with her 6-2, 6-0 win at the Indian Wells round of 16 last March, and a 6-2, 6-4 victory at the Berlin Open semifinals last June.
Eala said she’s excited to play in front of what would be another jam-packed stadium featuring Filipino fans just like in Washington.
“Yes, I’ve been told that um it’s going to be a full house tomorrow. So, I’m really very excited to see, and it’s nice to see that the Filipino community is really showing up, and they’re enjoying tennis,” said Eala.
“Hopefully it will help grow the sport as well and, you know, in the end give them, you know, something — a new experience and a joyful experience.”
Eala will also see action in the doubles side, resuming her stalled partnership with American great Venus Williams.
The tournament announced on Wednesday that the Filipino-American tandem received the last doubles wildcard, and they will face the Japanese-Russian duo of Miyu Kato and Liudmila Samsonova in the first round Friday morning in Manila.
Teaming up for the first time and reaching the Bad Homburg quarterfinals doubles last June, Eala and Williams were supposed to reunite in Washington but Eala withdrew, saying she wasn’t 100 percent in multiple aspects and that Williams deserved a better doubles partner.
Now, it seems everything’s good on Eala’s side as she renews her partnership with Williams.
