Eala kicks off grass season with Lexus Birmingham Open

AFTER A tough clay campaign, Alexandra “Alex” Eala enters a quick wind up onto the grass season starting with the Lexus Birmingham Open in England leading up to her third Grand Slam stint this year in the Wimbledon in London on June 29 to July 12.

A member of the elite Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia list, Ms. Eala marches on to Birmingham, a 125-level tour, as the No. 1 seed against Australia’s Priscilla Hon for Round 1 starting on Tuesday to kick off her long Wimbledon buildup.

Ms. Eala, who just turned 21 last month, is the highest-ranked ace in the tourney at No. 37 against Ms. Hon, WTA No. 143, to loom as a heavy favorite for a deep run pending a massive upset.

But it will be easier said than done for the Filipina pride, who’s 1-1 against Ms. Hon in pro head-to-head duels.

Ms. Eala defeated Ms. Hon, 6-4, 6-3, owed to Ms. Hon in the qualifiers of the 2023 Roehampton Open but got a reversal last year in the Ningbo Open, 6-2, 6-4.

The lefty ace will also play in the doubles, teaming up with Czechia’s Nikola Bartunkova against the second-seeded British pair of Harriet Dart and Maia Lumsden.

After Birmingham, Ms. Eala is also slated in the WTA 500 HSBC Championships on June 8 to 14 in London then the WTA 500 Bad Homburg Open on June 21 to 27 in Germany.

Ms. Eala is hoping for a productive campaign on grass after quite a struggle on clay courts marked by yet another early boot in Roland Garros for the second straight year after a 6-4, 6-2 first-round loss to her good friend and world No. 17 Iva Jovic of the United States.

She also had early exits in the Upper Austria Ladies Linz Open in Austria (second round), the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany (first round), Mutua Madrid Open (second round) and the WTA 500 Strasbourg Open in France with a third-round finish in the Italian Open serving as her only breakthrough run on the clay. — John Bryan Ulanday