Eala seeded fourth in WTA ASB Classic

Alexandra Eala of Philippines celebrates her win against Madison Keys during Day 6 of the Miami Open at Hard Rock Stadium on March 23, 2025 in Miami Gardens, Florida.

Al Bello / Getty Images / AFP

MANILA, Philippines — Alex Eala is seeded fourth in the WTA ASB Classic starting Monday at the ASB tennis Center in Auckland, New Zealand.

The tournament serves as one of Eala's warm-up tournaments for the highly anticipated Australian Open in Melbourne next week.

Ranked No. 53 in the Women's Tennis Association (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 Saturday.

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 Australian Open, as a wildcard along with Indonesia's Janice Tjen, France's Varvara Gracheva, Croatia's Petra Marcinko, Hungary's Panna Udvardy and Mexico's Zarazua, whom Eala already faced in other WTA Tour legs.

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

Vekic, whose career-high was at No. 17, is also among the participants in the historic Philippine Women's Open slated on January 16-31 at the refurbished Rizal Memorial Tennis Center in Manila, where 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 (PSC), becomes part of the WTA Tour for the first time ever.

Eala, according to a Philippine Tennis Association announcement, has secured a wildcard entry in the Manila tilt. But her availability will depend on the result of the Australian Open, which kicks off its main draw on January 18, like the other top-ranked players.

But first things first for Eala, which plunges to the ASB Classic as first of her two tests ahead of the Australian Open, where she is set for a main draw debut. Eala will also vie in the Kooyong Classic from January 13-15 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 Australian Open main draw remains as the only major 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).

Eala won the Australian Open girls' doubles crown in 2020, teaming up with Indonesian pal Priska Madelyn Nugroho. This underscored 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.