It feels like Alexandra Eala has been absent from the WTA Tour for an age, but in reality, it has only been 17 days.
During that time, she has remained busy though, playing in both the singles and doubles draws whilst representing the Philippines at the Asian Games.
The hope is that she can return to tour-level action refreshed, and given how the Wuhan Open draw has panned out, things could not have been kinder for her.
Alexandra Eala’s route to the Wuhan Open final is revealed
Alexandra Eala will kickstart her campaign at this WTA 1000 event by facing a qualifier. As things go, on paper, this could not represent an easier introduction to the tournament.
Things do get considerably harder from here, but fortunately, her potential opponents are all players whom she has a history of beating.
If she is to secure an expected opening-round victory, Leylah Fernandez will likely await her in the second round. Eala beat her en route to the Washington Open title earlier this summer.
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The prospect of facing either Jelena Ostapenko or Jessica Pegula in the Round of 16 may seem daunting, but again, the 21-year-old has beaten both in recent years, scoring a comeback victory over the American in that aforementioned Washington final.
Naturally, Karolina Muchova represents an arduous prospect to face in the quarter-finals, particularly given Eala’s unfortunate history against Czech opponents.
However, should she bypass that portion of the draw, Elina Svitolina would be her expected opponent in the semi-finals. Again, Eala beat her earlier this year.
Aryna Sabalenka or Iga Swiatek should, on paper, be a finalist from the other half of the draw.
Alex Eala’s previous record at the Wuhan Open
Interestingly, this will be just Eala’s second-ever main draw appearance at the Wuhan Open, with her first coming in 2024.
That wildcard entry saw her beaten in the first round by Katerina Siniakova.
She had to enter qualifying last year, and failed to even come close to reaching the main draw.
However, her rise since then has been meteoric, and the expectation is that Eala will almost definitely secure a best-ever run in Wuhan, and could even progress far given her draw.
It is tough, but given she was guaranteed to face stiff opposition, at least she has a history of having beaten most of them already.
