Alex Eala heads to the Ningbo Open in China next week, looking to end her losing streak and regain her winning form after three straight defeats on tour.
The Filipina suffered early exits at the Singapore Open and Wuhan Open, losing to unseeded Russian Tatiana Prozorova in the Singapore round of 16 late last month and Chinese qualifier Shi Han in the Wuhan Open’s round of 64 on Monday.
The Wuhan tournament, the final WTA 1000 event of the season, marked Eala’s return to the tour after she skipped the China Open in Beijing to represent the Philippines at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games in Japan.
Her last WTA Tour victory came at the US Open, where she beat Ukraine’s Oleksandra Oliynykova in straight sets in the second round on Sept. 4. Two days later, she fell to close friend and fellow rising star Iva Jovic in a hard-fought three-set match in the third round at Flushing Meadows.
Eala also fell short of her gold-medal bid at the Asian Games. Despite entering as the top seed and a favorite, she settled for bronze after losing to China’s Wang Xiyu in the semifinals. Wang went on to win the gold medal.
Despite the recent setbacks, Eala remains focused on representing the Philippines and inspiring fellow Filipinos through her performance on the court.
“The most I can do, I feel at the moment, is to give back to my country and to my fellow Filipinos by just doing my best and, you know, continuing to work hard and trying to inspire people and show them that this is possible just through the things that I do,” Eala said after her Wuhan loss.
She also acknowledged the challenges ahead, saying she does not expect an easy draw.
“My opinion [about the draw] is that there's not going to be any easy matches,” she said.
Eala said she plans to approach each match individually and focus on delivering her best tennis.
“And so what I'm going to try to do is take it match by match and try to, you know, focus one step at a time and try to bring out the best level that I can bring out,” she said.
The Ningbo Open offers Eala another chance to rebuild momentum before the season winds down. The world No. 19 will continue her Asian campaign at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, Japan, a WTA 500 tournament scheduled for Oct. 26 to Nov. 1.
The 21-year-old will then compete in a WTA 250 tournament in Hong Kong from Nov. 2-8 before closing her 2026 campaign with a homecoming exhibition match against Indonesia’s Janice Tjen at Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan. FROM THE WIRES