NEARLY three years after falling to Chinese Zheng Qinwen at the Asian Games, Filipino tennis ace Alexandra "Alex" Eala finally gets her chance at redemption.
World No. 29 Eala and No. 123 Zheng were pitted as first-round (round of 32) opponents at the WTA 500 Mubadala D.C. Open, as the tournament draw revealed Saturday afternoon in Washington (early Sunday in Manila).
This marks Eala's and Zheng's first-ever WTA encounter after their hard-fought semifinal match at the Asiad in China back in 2023.
Zheng, 23, defeated Eala, 21, in three sets, 6–1, 6(5)–7, 6–3, to make the final and eventually win the gold medal. Eala bagged a bronze medal for her semifinal appearance.
Zheng, who reached a career-best world No. 4 following her semifinal run at the Queen's Club Championships last year, has struggled to find her old form since her arthroscopic right elbow surgery in July last year.
A wildcard entry in this Washington tourney, Zheng previously said she dealt with the right elbow pain for a few months before finally deciding to have surgery, causing her to miss last season's North American swing.
Zheng, who ruled the 2024 Paris Olympics women's event, returned in the China Open in September but that aggravated her injury and caused the 4-time WTA champ to miss about five months of action, including the 2026 Australian Open.
Unable to replace her ranking points, Zheng ultimately dropped to rank No. 123 and has been slowly trying to regain her old form. She last saw action at the Athens Open, where she reached the quarterfinals last week.
Meanwhile, Eala is coming off a strong grass-court season highlighted by her historic Wimbledon fourth-round finish, becoming the first Filipino singles player to reach the London grass major's last 16.
Out of 16 matches in grass, Eala won 12, including back-to-back wins against world No. 10 Elina Svitolina and No. 2 Elena Rybakina to reach the Berlin Open semis and against No. 8 defending champ Iga Swiatek to make the Wimbledon fourth round.
If Eala gets past Zheng, she will face either Magda Linette or defending champ Leylah Fernandez in the second round.
Out in doubles
Eala will no longer see action on the Mubadala doubles side.
Her pre-announced partner Venus Williams re-paired with Diana Shnaider, as revealed in the draw.
Eala and Williams first teamed up at the Bad Homburg Open, where they made a quarterfinal finish last month.
More than a week ago, Mubadala announced that Eala and Williams are back as partners with a wildcard entry. On Friday night, Eala and Williams were even practicing.
It's going to be Williams and Shnaider facing Ulrikke Eikeri and Quinn Gleason in the first round (round of 16).
