Eala joins Melbourne Kooyong Classic ahead of Aussie Open

NO REST for the weary.

Alexandra “Alex” Eala, hungry for more, turns her eyes to the Kooyong Classic in Melbourne for her final buildup ahead of her highly-anticipated main draw debut in the Australian Open.

“Until my heart stops. So close yet so far. Thank you Auckland for the warmest hospitality to start the year. I truly felt the wairua,” said Ms. Eala, who’s already off to the Land Down Under, following a semifinal run in the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand.

Ms. Eala, WTA No. 53, is one of the four WTA players listed so far in the Kooyong Classic set on Jan. 13 to 15, an exclusive by-invite only exhibition tourney serving as a sidelight to the Australian Open (AO).

Joining Ms. Eala are 2024 Wimbledon semifinalist and Paris Olympics silver medalist Donna Vekic (WTA No. 69) of Croatia, whom she beat in Auckland, No. 121 and home bet Priscilla Hon and the 42-year-old legend Daniela Hantuchova, a multiple Grand Slam mixed doubles champion from Slovakia.

Ms. Eala’s Kooyong Classic stint as the youngest player there comes on the heels of her impressive Auckland campaign for her first tournament this season.

As the No. 4 seed, the 20-year-old Filipina strung three straight wins before absorbing a 7-5, 5-7, 4-6 loss to China’s Wang Xinyu, WTA No. 57, for a foiled title shot in New Zealand but not all was lost by hitting a bevy of milestones anew.

Aside from netting her third career WTA semifinal appearance, Ms. Eala is projected to reach a new career-best WTA ranking at No. 49 according to live tracking.

Her previous best was at No. 50 to end the 2025 season as the first Filipina ever to reach the said peak.

Ms. Eala did it by slaying Croatian aces Ms. Vekic, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 and WTA No. 82 Petra Marcinko, 6-0, 6-2, as well as WTA No. 52 Magda Linette of Poland, 6-3, 6-2, in the first three rounds.

With American partner Iva Jovic, WTA No. 35, Ms. Eala also reached the final four in the Auckland doubles before bowing against the third-seeded Chinese tandem of Xu Yifan, WTA No. 40, and Yang Zhaoxuan, WTA No. 44, 7-5, 6-3.

The Filipina-American tandem stunned the seasoned tandem of former world No. 3 Elina Svitolina, now No. 13, of Ukraine and multititled Venus Williams of the USA, 7-6 (9-7), 6-1, in Round 1 before a walkover win against Czechia’s Jesika Maleckova (WTA No. 72) and Mexico’s Renata Zarazua (WTA No. 84) in the quarterfinals.

After Kooyong, AO it is for the lefty sensation who for the first time ever has earned a direct entry to the main draw as a Top-50 player.

The AO remains as the only Grand Slam main draw she has not played in after the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open after multiple qualifying round exits as a wildcard.

A winner of the Australian junior doubles crown with Indonesian Priska Madelyn Nugroho in 2020, Ms. Eala had only figured in the qualifiers of the AO until this year after her meteoric rise in 2025. — John Bryan Ulanday