Eala to still see action in China with post-Asiad Wuhan Open stint

MANILA, Philippines — Alex Eala will play in China, after all.

Albeit not in the China Open in Beijing, Eala is listed in the Wuhan Open after her Asian Games campaign on October 12-18.

Eala, WTA No. 18, is skipping the WTA1000 Beijing tilt set September 30 to October 11 in the same country to serve national duty in the Asiad slated September 27 to October 3 in Nagoya, Japan.

Wuhan is also a 1000-level WTA Tour with luxurious and much more needed rankings points at stake for Eala to make up for her expected lost ground in Beijing.

The 21-year-old Filipina pride is part of the first 20 players released by Wuhan and WTA Thursday, including new World No. 1 and newly minted US Open Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan.

Also in the fray are now World No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, No. 3 Jessica Pegula and No. 4 Coco Gauff of the United States, as well as No. 5 Mirra Andreeva of Russia.

A total of 48 players inside the Top 50 are entered in Wuhan serving as the first tourney after Asiad, where Eala is gunning for a breakthrough gold medal.

Eala, who’s coming off a third-round finish in the US Open, netted two bronze medals in the women’s and mixed doubles events at the 2022 Asiad in Guangzhou, China. 

In Nagoya, she will play in the women’s singles and doubles, looming as the top player to beat as the highest-ranked Asian in the quadrennial joust.

At the expense of going for it, however, is a possible $10,000 fine from the WTA for skipping the Beijing Open, one of the mandatory 1000-level tourney in the WTA Tour calendar.

The Philippine Tennis Association (PHILTA) has already written a request for an exemption waiver for Eala to the WTA, which has not responded yet.

But first things first for Eala, who is projected to rise as the No. 3 seed with a first-round bye in the WTA500 Singapore Open from September 21-27 serving as her Asiad warm-up.

World No. 3 Pegula, owing to fatigue from her US Open semifinal run, withdrew from the tourney, making Eala jump from No. 4 as world No. 5 Andreeva and No. 11 Amanda Anisimova of USA take the first two seeds.

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