Who is Greet Minnen? Alex Eala's Round of 16 foe at Suzhou Open WTA 125

Alex Eala had to weather a challenge from Katarzyna Kawa of Poland as well as the rain to get past the Round of 32 of the Suzhou Open WTA 125 on Tuesday in China. 

The Filipina tennis ace overcame a Set 2 slip to carve out a hard-fought 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 victory, despite the match being halted for nearly three hours due to heavy rain.

The fourth-seeded Eala is now heading to the Round of 16 against Greet Minnen of Belgium. 

The 28-year-old Minnen is a veteran tennis player, who had a career-high ranking no. 59 in 2023 and who had been competing in the professional scene for more than seven years now. 

Since 2020, Minnen has been seeing action in the four Grand Slam tournaments with her best finish coming in during her 2023 US Open run, where she reached the Round of 32 before falling to Daria Kasatkina of Australia. 

In the latest US Open, Minnen made the main draw anew but absorbed a 3-6, 4-6 loss to Japanese bet Naomi Osaka in the Round of 128. 

Minnen will now take on Eala for the first time in their respective careers after the former pulled off a convincing 6-4, 6-0 win over home bet Han Shi of China in the Round of 32. 

—JMB, GMA Integrated News