Eala drawn with big guns

US Open debut set vs world No. 15

MANILA, Philippines — It’s all systems go for Alex Eala against world No. 15 Clara Tauson of Denmark in her much-awaited main draw debut in the 2025 US Open firing off on Sunday in New York.

The 20-year-old Filipina ace arrived in the Big Apple yesterday and was welcomed by a bevy of Filipino fans ready to cheer for her breakthrough bid in this year’s final Grand Slam tourney.

Eala, WTA No. 70, had her first training at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center to brace for a tall order against the 22-year-old Tauson in the first round after the release of the official draw yesterday.

A potential opponent for the Filipina in the second round is world No. 36 Cristina Bucsa of Spain.

The road is littered with land mines.

Also in Eala’s bracket are world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, No. 4 Jessica Pegula, No. 5 Mira Andreeva, No. 8 Jasmine Paolini, No. 10 Elena Rybakina and No. 35 Emma Raducanu. World No. 2 Iga Swiatek leads the bottom half of the draw.

This will be Eala’s third straight tennis major main draw stint but without a single win to show just yet after early exits in the French Open and Wimbledon.

She’s hoping to finally score it in New York albeit at the expense of an in-form Danish ace fresh from a semifinal run in the 2025 National Bank Open in Canada.

It’s the same tournament Eala participated in last month where she absorbed a 6-3, 1-6, 2-6 meltdown against former Grand Slam champion Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic in Round 1.

Eala nursed a left shoulder injury in the said tourney that also prompted her to pull out from the Cincinnati Open that could have been her final warm-up tourney for the US Open.

She has recovered since then and held camp at the Rafael Nadal Academy in Spain, where she graduated as scholar in 2023, before flying to the United States for her final build-up.

A former junior Grand Slam champion in the US Open, Eala is hoping to weave the same magic in New York with extra motivation after also having a sweet homecoming in the Philippines last month.

It will be a return of sorts for Eala in the United States after a magical semifinal run in the Miami Open last summer that propelled her to the Top 100 rankings and served as her eligibility ticket as direct entries in all Grand Slams and WTA 1000 tournaments.