FILIPINO tennis ace Alex Eala arrived in New York and immediately got to work for her US Open return.
US Open Tennis on Sunday posted a video of Eala hitting balls under the supervision of coach Joan Bosch at the Arthur Ashe Stadium.
WTA No. 20 Eala will begin her campaign in the mixed doubles with ATP No. 4 Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada.
Eala then faces WTA No. 16 Iva Jovic in the Stars of the Open exhibition match on Aug. 27.
On the same day, the draws for men and women will be revealed.
The main draw matches will run from Aug. 30 to Sept. 13.
Last year, Eala picked up her first ever Grand Slam win at the US Open after defeating Clara Tauson, 6-3, 2-6, 7-6.
She bowed out in the second round with a 4-6, 3-6 defeat to Cristina Bucsa.
As a top 20 player this time, Eala will face lower-ranked players, likely outside the top 60, for the first two rounds before facing a player in the top 10 or top 15 in the third round.
Meanwhile, Eala is set to bag a hefty prize money in this US Open which features a record $108-million prize fund or around P6.68 billion.
Eala is guaranteed at least $160,000 or P9.8 million for her singles ($140,000) and mixed doubles ($20,000 share) first-round appearance.
If Eala goes on to win the entire singles tournament, she will take home $5.5 million or P339 million.
As of writing, Eala isn't confirmed for the women's doubles yet.
Eala is set for a new career-high in the WTA rankings and her highest seeding in a Grand Slam tournament.
In the official ranking update on Monday, Eala is likely to hit a new best rank of No. 18, which will also be her seeding at this year's US Open — the final major of the year.
Eala's previous highest seeding was No. 29 at Wimbledon last July when she became the first Filipino seeded singles player in a major.
In the live rankings on Sunday, Eala already achieved the No. 18 rank with 2,221 points following a third-round exit at the Cincinnati Open.
That's a 2-notch improvement from her career-high No. 20, which she achieved after capturing her first WTA title at the Mubadala DC Open on Aug. 3.
