ALEXANDRA “ALEX” EALA will play in China, after all.
Albeit not in the China Open in Beijing, Ms. Eala is listed in the Wuhan Open after her Asian Games (Asiad) campaign on Oct. 12 to 18.
Ms. Eala, WTA No. 18, is skipping the WTA 1000 Beijing tilt set Sept. 30 to Oct. 11 in the same country to serve national duty in the Asiad slated Sept. 27 to Oct 3 in Nagoya, Japan.
Wuhan is also a 1000-level WTA Tour with luxurious and much more needed rankings points at stake for Ms. Eala to make up for her expected lost ground in Beijing.
The 21-year-old Filipina pride is part of the first 20 players released by Wuhan and the WTA on Thursday, including new world No. 1 and newly-minted US Open winner Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan.
Also in the fray are now world No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, No. 3 Jessica Pegula and No. 4 Coco Gauff of the United States as well as No. 5 Mirra Andreeva of Russia.
A total of 48 players inside the Top 50 are entered in Wuhan serving as the first tourney after Asiad, where Ms. Eala is gunning for a breakthrough gold medal.
Ms. Eala, who’s coming off a third-round finish in the US Open, netted two bronze medals in the women’s and mixed doubles events at the 2022 Asiad in Guangzhou, China.
In Nagoya, she will play in the women’s singles and doubles, looming as the top player to beat as the highest-ranked Asian in the quadrennial joust.
At the expense of going for it, however, is a possible $10,000 fine from the WTA for skipping the Beijing Open, one of the mandatory 1000-level tourneys in the WTA Tour calendar.
The Philippine Tennis Association has already written a request for an exemption waiver for Ms. Eala to the WTA, which has not responded yet.
But first things first for Ms. Eala, who is projected to rise as the No. 3 seed with a first-round bye in the WTA 500 Singapore Open on Sept. 21 to 27 serving as her Asiad warm-up.
World No. 3 Ms. Pegula, owing to fatigue from her US Open semifinal run, withdrew from the tourney, making Ms. Eala jump from No. 4 as world No. 5 Andreeva and No. 11 Amanda Anisimova of USA take the first two seeds. — John Bryan Ulanday
