Eala draws Olympic champ as first-round assignment

MANILA, Philippines — Alex Eala’s hard-court swing will kick off against no less than Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen of China – but without her highly-anticipated doubles reunion with American legend Venus Williams at the Mubadala Citi DC Open in Washington.

Eala, the WTA World No. 29, was drawn against Zheng in the lower half of the 32-player field, as per the official draw released yesterday. The 500-level event is the first stop of the North American hard-court swing leading to the US Open on Aug. 30 to Sept. 13 in Flushing Meadows, New York.

The same draw revealed that the much-talked-about Eala-Williams partnership will no longer push through.

Williams, 46, was originally entered with the 21-year-old Filipina but will now team up with Russia’s Diana Shnaider instead. No official reason was given for the change.

Williams herself addressed the switch in a pre-tournament press conference, saying she was looking forward to teaming up with Eala again after their quarterfinal run at the Bad Homburg Open last month.

“We had a great time playing at Bad Homburg so we were looking forward to playing again. It didn’t work out this time. We’ll see what happens,” said Williams, who even hit with Eala in practice on Saturday.

Williams and Shnaider will open against Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Quinn Gleason of the United States in the first round.

With the doubles reunion shelved, all eyes now turn to Eala’s singles campaign – the first of three tune-up tournaments for the US Open, the final Grand Slam of the season.

On paper, Eala is the favorite as a Top 30 player against Zheng, currently ranked No. 123 after sliding from a career-high No. 4 due to a string of injuries following her gold-medal run at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The two have yet to meet on the pro tour, but Eala has some unfinished business. Zheng edged her, 1-6, 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, in the semifinals of the 2023 Asian Games in China – a tournament Zheng eventually won.

At stake is a second-round clash with either reigning champion and World No. 25 Leylah Fernandez of Canada or Poland’s No. 51 Magda Linette.