FILIPINO tennis ace Alexandra "Alex" Eala and former doubles and singles world No. 1 Venus Williams begin their doubles campaign in the WTA 500 Bad Homburg Open in Germany Wednesday in Manila.
The Filipino-American pair face the Aussie-American duo of Alexandra Osborne and Catherine Harrison in the first round (round of 16) either late in the afternoon or early evening.
The order of play for Wednesday matches wasn't available yet as of writing, but the first match starts as early as 11 a.m. in Germany which is 5 p.m. in Manila.
"I am really, really excited," said Eala of teaming up with Williams.
"Venus is such a trailblazer and continues to do so much and has done so much for the sport. I like to say that women's tennis has been a trailblazer for women's sports and she is a big part of why that is."
Both Eala's and Williams' campaigns in the singles play ended early Tuesday, with the Filipino falling to Belgian Elise Mertens, 3-6, 3-6, and the American to Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu, 2-6, 6-4, 6(6)-7.
Winner of 22 doubles titles including 14 Grand Slams, the 46-year-old Williams uses this German competition as warm-up for her reunion with her 44-year-old sister Serena in Wimbledon slated from June 29 to July 12.
Currently ranked No. 120 in doubles, Venus won all her doubles titles with Serena including her last at the 2016 edition of Wimbledon.
The Williams sisters were given wildcard entries in the doubles side, with Serena also receiving a wildcard in singles play after being away from the professional tennis scene for four years.
A 49-time singles champ, Venus last played a doubles match at the Madrid Open last April in Spain, where she and British Katie Boulter fell to the Taiwanese-American pair of Hsieh Su-wei and Sofia Kenin.
Likewise preparing for the Wimbledon, Eala is ranked No. 151 in doubles with a career-high of No. 88.
The 21-year-old last competed in doubles at the 125 Birmingham Open with Czech Nikola Bartunkova, yielding to British bets Harriet Dart and Maia Lumsden, 4-6, 6-2, 9-11, in the first round (round of 16).
Eala eventually beat Bartunkova in the tournament's singles final, 7-5, 6-3, 7-5, for her second title. NIEL VICTOR C. MASOY
