Eala to play historic match vs Tjen at Philippine Arena
MANILA, Philippines — No Filipino individual athlete has ever played at the gargantuan Philippine Arena.
Adding another feather in her cap, Alex Eala will become the first to do so when she struts her stuff in a homecoming match on December 8 at the 55,000-seater venue in Bocaue, Bulacan.
“Kumusta, Pilipinas? I’m coming home,” said Eala in a social media announcement Friday after a 6-3 defeat to good friend Iva Jovic of the United States (WTA No. 14) in the Stars of the US Open exhibitions featuring the world’s rising stars.
ALEX EALA AT THE PHILIPPINE ARENA ????????????
— John Bryan Ulanday (@bryanulanday) August 28, 2026
JUST IN: Alex Eala will conquer the 55,000-seated Philippine Arena on Dec. 7 for a homecoming match against fellow Southeast Asian star Janice Tjen of Indonesia. @PhilippineStar @StarSportsHub pic.twitter.com/PEdBnFBEC1
The WTA No. 18 Eala, will play fellow Southeast Asian star Janice Tjen, WTA No. 35, in the exhibition match that will mark another first for Eala and Philippine tennis, at the world’s largest indoor arena.
Eala earlier this year played in the WTA125 Philippine Women’s Open at the refurbished Rizal Memorial Tennis Center in Manila, which also served as the first-of-its-kind international tennis event in the country.
Before the 21-year-old Filipina pride and tennis, the Philippine Arena, which is usually reserved for local and international concerts, had hosted only basketball events led by Gilas Pilipinas for FIBA and the PBA.
The PBA holds the record for the biggest crowd at the venue with 54,589 fans for Game 7 of the 2023 PBA Governors’ Cup between fan favorite Barangay Ginebra and guest team Bay Area.
Gilas also boasts the largest FIBA World Cup game crowd in history in Bocaue with 38,115 fans in the 2023 World Cup opener against the Dominican Republic.
With fast-growing popularity as one of the world’s crowd darlings and highest-ranked players, hopes are high for Eala to also pull a sizeable fan attendance in her second home match ever after the Philippine Women’s Open at a way smaller venue.
But first things first for Eala, who will march on to her second US Open main draw stint with the highest seeding for any Filipino player — man or woman — in any Grand Slam ever.
Eala, thanks to a banner year that catapulted her to inside the world’s Top 20, has been announced as the No. 17 seed in the official draw Friday and will play against a qualifier in the first round starting early next week.
Her previous highest seed in a major was at No. 29 in Wimbledon, where she had a magical Round of 16 run marked by a couple of victories against Top-10 players.
Eala will have at least two days to put on the finishing touches in her build-up before the main draw kickstarts on Monday after playing in two games so far at the sidelines of the season’s final major.
Aside from a friendly match against Jovic that also featured their dads on the court for a moment, Eala debuted in the US Open mixed doubles with partner Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada, world No. 4.
Eala and Auger-Aliassime absorbed a 4-1, 4-1 defeat to the wife-husband duo of Gael Monfils from France and Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, who reached the semifinals of the stacked field won by the Czech tandem of Karolina Muchova and Jacuk Menzik.
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