Eala braces for tough Australia Open qualifiers

MANILA, Philippines — Alex Eala arrived in Melbourne on Saturday for a much-awaited stint in the world’s first Grand Slam tourney this year.

Following a strong campaign in Canberra, Eala will brace for a tougher competition in the 2025 Australian Open starting Monday at the Melbourne Park featuring a 128-player field in the qualifiers.

The 19-year-old Filipina standout is hoping to scoop one of the remaining 16 spots from that cast to advance to the main tourney slated on January 12-26.

Eala is still waiting for the release of the official draw to determine her opponents in three rounds of the qualifiers, which she hopes to conquer all to etch history for Philippine tennis.

With a sweep of the qualifiers, Eala could become the first Filipina player to ever strut her stuff in a Grand Slam main tournament.

She came so close to achieving it last year by making it to the finals of the other three majors – French Open, Wimbledon and US Open – but she ran out of gas when it mattered the most.

Eala is hoping for the fourth’s time to be the charm, especially with her familiarity of the Melbourne court after ruling the 2020 Australian Open girls’ doubles with Indonesian pal Priska Madelyn Nugroho.

She was also a junior doubles champion in the 2021 French Open and junior singles titlist in the 2022 US Open, the first Filipina to do so, making it a good stepping stone for her Australian Open bid.

Aside from that, the lefty sensation is coming off a Final Four finish in the Workday Canberra International at the Australia’s capital city before the weekend.

And she did it all the way from the qualifying round as she strung five straight wins to prove her mettle as one of the up-and-coming international tennis aces today being No. 147 player in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA).

Eala drubbed home bets Catherine Aulia, 6-1, 6-2, and Alana Subasic, 5-7, 6-0, 6-1, in the qualifiers before besting Austria’s Sinja Kraus, 6-2, 6-4, Arianne Hortono of the Netherlands, 6-3, 6-3, and Australia’s Taylah Preston, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, in the main tournament.

Her run ended at the hands of China’s Sijia Wei with a 7-5, 6-2 semifinal defeat. Wei, WTA No. 134, then bowed to No.7 seed and WTA No. 126 Aoi Ito of Japan in the finale, 6-4, 6-3.