Eala faces American foe in Australian Open main draw debut

Sports

ALEX Eala faces a lower-ranked opponent when she marks her main draw debut in the Australian Open on Sunday, Jan. 18, in Melbourne.

Eala, currently ranked No. 49 in the world, a career-high, will take on American Alycia Parks, who ranks 51 spots lower than the Filipina tennis star.

It will be the first time that the 20-year-old Eala and the 25-year-old Parks will be facing in a Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) tournament.

The upcoming tournament is stacked with world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu, wildcard entry and Grand Slam veteran Venus Williams, and third seed Coco Gauff seeing action.

Eala is finally seeing action in the main draw after faltering in the qualifying rounds last year, where she lost to Jana Fett, 5-7, 2-6. Eala has put in a stellar run since then, rising from world No. 140 to her current career-high ranking.

Eala had her debut appearances in the other three Grand Slams last year. The youthful tennis ace competed in the first round at the French Open and Wimbledon, and also advanced to the second round at the US Open.

Eala and Parks both competed in the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand last week.

Eala came up with a strong showing in the ASB Classic but the best she could do was to make it to the semifinals.

From the ASB Classic, Eala saw action in the Kooyong Classic, where she won over 2024 Paris Olympics silver medalist Donna Vekick in an exhibition match, 6-3, 6-4.(CCM)