CROATIAN Donna Vekic and Chinese Wang Xinyu lead the familiar foes of Filipino tennis ace Alexandra “Alex” Eala listed at the Philippine Women’s Open (PWO).
The first WTA event in the Philippines runs from Jan. 26 to 31 at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center in Manila.
World No. 49 Eala battled No. 70 Vekic and No. 43 Wang at the just-concluded ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand.
Eala topped Vekic in the round of 32, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, and fell to Wang in the semifinals, 7-5, 5-7, 4-6.
Eala also defeated Vekic in an exhibition match at the Kooyong Classic, 6-3, 6-4, on Wednesday.
Like Eala, Vekic and Wang’s participation at the Philippine Women’s Open depends on how far they will go at the Australian Open.
With the Manila 125 tournament overlapping with the first major of the year’s second week, the trio could only join the Philippine tourney if they exit early Down Under.
True is the same for German and World No. 42 Tatjana Maria.
Maria actually had the most duels against Eala with four, winning all those matches with the most recent being the 2024 Guadalajara 125, where she topped the Filipino, 7-5, 6-2.
World No. 39 Lulu Sun is also listed at the Philippine Women’s Open.
She faced Eala twice already, winning both matches, most recently their Jingshan Open encounter last September, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.
