Eala warms up for Australian Open

MANILA, Philippines —  Alex Eala is taking her act to Oceania. 

The Filipina rising star yesterday arrived in Auckland, New Zealand for the WTA 250 ASB Classic before trooping to Melbourne for the Kooyong Classic and the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament of the year. 

It will be a short stop for Eala in NZ, spending more time with her family to celebrate the New Year while flexing her muscles for the Australian Open main draw which starts on Jan. 18.

The ASB Classic in Auckland is set Jan. 5 to 11. Eala will slug it out with other top-ranked players led by WTA No. 15 Emma Navarro of the United States.

Then she vies in the Kooyong Classic scheduled Jan. 13 to 15.

The 20-year-old sensation celebrated Christmas in Macau, where she played in the 2025 MGM Macau Tennis Masters, an exhibition tourney featuring the world’s rising stars and legends. 

In the Australian Open, Eala doesn’t need to go through the qualifiers.

Eala earned a direct entry in the 103-player main draw as a Top 100 player in the Women’s Tennis Association, placing at No. 53 to start the year. 

A winner of the Australian Open junior doubles in 2020, Eala leveled up in the women’s pro. She earned wildcard invites in the succeeding years but could not get past the qualifying rounds. 

Her latest setback in Melbourne was a 7-5, 6-2 defeat last year to Croatia’s Jana Fett in Round 1. 

The Australian Open main draw remains as the only major Eala has not played in after doing it at Wimbledon, French Open and US Open last year following her WTA rise. 

She scored a 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (13-11) victory over then world No. 15 Clara Tauson of Denmark at the US Open Round 1 to become the first Filipina winner in any Slam main draw. 

Eala is hoping to replicate the feat or go even deeper in Melbourne featuring a stacked cast led by the world’s Top 5 players in Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, Iga Swiatek of Poland, the American pair of Coco Gauff and Amanda Anisimova and Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan. 

The official draw for the main competition fires off Jan. 18 after the week-long qualifier.