Alex Eala has been given some significant encouragement, despite losing in the quarter-finals of the Tokyo Open.
Eala has enjoyed her best ever season in 2026, having won her first WTA title at the Washington Open, reached the fourth round of Wimbledon and broke into the top 20.
However, the Filipina has struggled to continue this form since the US Open, with Eala winning just three of her seven WTA Tour matches since the last Grand Slam of the year.
Two of Eala’s losses have come against Diana Shnaider, including at the Tokyo Open, but what has happened since then should provide her with a huge morale boost.
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Alex Eala pushed eventual champion Diana Shnaider the most at the Tokyo Open
Eala lost to Shnaider at both the Ningbo Open and the Tokyo Open, but their most recent encounter in the Japanese capital was much closer fought as the Russian came from a set down to win 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-4.
Shnaider would go on to win the Tokyo Open title, her first tournament victory of the 2026 season, after beating Leylah Fernandez in the final. Eala was not the only player to push Shnaider to three sets, but she was certainly the closest to beating her, having been just two points away from a straight sets win.
This should be hugely encouraging for Eala, not only because she had been through a run of relatively disappointing results, but also because she closed the gap on Shnaider.
It goes to show the margins between a player losing in the quarter-finals and another winning the title, showing that the Tokyo Open was definitely Eala’s best tournament since the US Open.
| Tokyo Open 2026 | Diana Shnaider’s result |
| First Round | Received a bye as the third seed |
| Second Round | Shnaider beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich (Q), 6-3 5-7 6-3 |
| Quarter-final | Shnaider beat Alex Eala (8), 2-6 7-6(5) 6-4 |
| Semi-final | Shnaider beat Mia Pohankova (WC), 6-4 7-6(7) |
| Final | Shnaider beat Leylah Fernandez, 6-4 5-7 6-2 |
Alex Eala’s surprising biggest threat to winning the Hong Kong Open
Eala will now hope to use the form she showed in Tokyo at her final tournament of the 2026 season, which is the Hong Kong Open. Eala may be relieved that Shnaider is not in the draw in Hong Kong, but there are still a number of threats to her winning a second WTA title.
Alycia Parks will be Eala’s first round opponent and based on ranking her most likely opponents in the draw are Tereza Valentova, Xinyu Wang, Maria Sakkari and Sorana Cirstea. Other than Sakkari, who she has never played before, Eala has played at least two matches against all of these players before.
Eala has 1-1 head-to-heads against Parks, Wang and Cirstea, but won their most recent meeting, but she has never beaten Valentova before having lost both of their previous meetings at the Japan Open in 2025 and the Qatar Open in 2026.
Valentova, who is still only 19 years old, enjoyed a breakthrough season last year and was ranked as high as world number 42 in May, but a drop-off in form and injury issues have caused her to fall outside the top 80.
Eala will only play Valentova if she beats Parks in the first round of the Hong Kong Open and the Czech wins her opener against qualifier Himeno Sakatsume.
The main draw of the Hong Kong Open gets underway on Monday, November 2, but Eala and Valentova will not play their first matches until Tuesday.
