ALEX EALA during the 33rd Southeast Asian Games at Bangkok, Thailand. — PHILIPPINE STAR/RUSSELL PALMA

AND ALEXANDRA “ALEX” EALA is off to a new season with high hopes and lofty goals following a banner year that catapulted her to one of the tennis world’s brightest young stars.

Ms. Eala is seeded fourth in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) 250 ASB Classic starting on Monday at ASB Tennis Centre in Auckland, New Zealand (NZ) that serves as one of her warm-up tournaments for the highly-anticipated Australian Open (AO) in Melbourne next week.

“Nobody say I didn’t manifest it. Let’s start the 2026 season, shall we?” said Ms. Eala on her Instagram, sharing a throwback photo of her playing on hardcourt before rising to the world stage.

Ranked No. 53 in the WTA rankings, the 20-year-old Filipina comes in only behind the top three seeds in Elina Svitolina (WTA No. 14) of Ukraine as well as the American pair of Emma Navarro (WTA No. 15) and Iva Jovic (WTA No. 35) as per the official draw.

Also in the fray of the loaded main draw is the 45-year-old and seven-time major champion Venus Williams of the United States, who will also play in the AO, as a wildcard along with Indonesia’s Janice Tjen, France’s Varvara Gracheva, Croatia’s Petra Marcinko, Hungary’s Panna Udvardy and Mexico’s Renata Zarazua, whom Ms. Eala already faced in other WTA Tour legs.

Ms. Eala and Ms. Jovic will team up in the doubles tourney against the powerhouse duo of Ms. Svitolina and Ms. Williams, scheduled at 8:50 a.m. on Monday before her singles campaign on Tuesday slated at 6 a.m.

Ms. Svitolina, a former WTA Tour finals champion, and the decorated Ms. Williams will serve as two of the biggest and brightest opponents of Ms. Eala in her booming career so far after beating former Grand Slam champions Iga Swiatek of Poland, Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia and Madison Keys of the United States at the Miami Open last year.

As one of the top seeds in the singles, Ms. Eala drew WTA No. 69 Donna Vekic of Serbia in the Round of 32 on Tuesday after the ongoing qualifiers.

Ms. Vekic, whose career-high was at No. 17, is also among the participants in the historic Philippine Women’s Open slated on Jan. 16 to 31 at the refurbished Rizal Memorial Tennis Center in Manila, where Ms. Eala is in line for a grand homecoming.

World No. 45 Tatjana Maria of Germany, No. 55 Xinyu Wang of China, and No. 66 Solana Sierra of Argentina are also in as the country, thanks to the Philippine Sports Commission, becomes part of the WTA Tour for the first time ever.

Ms. Eala, as per the Philippine Tennis Association announcement on Sunday, has secured a wildcard entry in the Manila tilt albeit her availability will depend on the result of the Australian Open that kicks off its main draw on Jan. 18 like the other top-ranked players.

But first things first for Ms. Eala, which plunges to the ASB Classic as first of her two tests ahead of the AO, where she is set for a main draw debut. Ms. Eala will also vie in the Kooyong Classic on Jan. 13 to 15 in Melbourne for her final pre-AO tourney.

The lefty sensation earned a direct entry in the 103-player main draw as Top 100 player in the world rankings after settling for wildcard invites in the qualifying rounds in the previous years. She bowed to Croatia’s Jana Fett in Round 1 last year, 7-5, 6-2.

The AO main draw remains as the only major Ms. Eala has not played in after strutting her stuff in the Wimbledon, French Open and US Open, where she became the first Filipina winner in any Grand Slam main draw last year following a stunning upset of world No. 15 and 2025 ASB Classic champion Clara Tauson of Denmark, 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (13-11).

Ms. Eala won the AO girls’ doubles crown in 2020, teaming up with Indonesian pal Priska Madelyn Nugroho, underscoring her caliber then as the world No. 2 junior player before climbing to the women’s pro as now one of the world’s rising stars. — John Bryan Ulanday

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