Top seed Alex Eala faces Priscilla Hon to open singles run at Birmingham Open

Alex Eala swings into the grass-court season, launching her singles campaign at the WTA 125 Birmingham Open with the Round of 32 set for Tuesday afternoon at around 5:30 p.m. (Philippine time).

The 21-year-old Filipina tennis star, who currently ranks no. 37 in the world, enters the singles division as the top-seeded player among the 32-woman field and will face unseeded Priscilla Hon of Australia.

Eala is looking to redeem herself following a tough run on the clay courts.

READ MORE | Alex Eala and her 2026 clay court swing recap: Rankings, WTA Points, Prize Money

The rising star competed in six WTA clay-court tournaments but suffered early exits in each of them. She opened the clay season with a Round of 16 exit at the Linz Open before falling to Leylah Fernandez in the Stuttgart Open Round of 32. She also failed to advance past the early rounds in the Madrid Open and Italian Open.

In the Strasbourg Open, Eala started strong but faded in the next two sets, falling to Oleksandra Oliynykova in the Round of 32. Eala closed out the clay season with another early exit, absorbing a 6-4, 6-2 loss to Iva Jovic in the French Open opening round.

Eala, who already bowed out in the doubles category of the tournament after she and Nikola Bartunkova fell to Harriet Dart and Maia Lumsden in the Round of 16, now seeks to bounce back in the singles.

She will open the Birmingham Open against a familiar foe in world no. 143 Hon.

The two have faced each other twice in the past with Eala taking one over the Australlian star during the quarterfinals of the Roehampton 2 in 2023 while Hon equalized their head-to-head match-up with a qualifying round win in the Ningbo Open in 2024 in China.

Season recap

Clay-court swing

• French Open (Grand Slam) — Round of 128
• Italian Open (WTA 1000) — Round of 32
• Madrid Open (WTA 1000) — Round of 64
• Stuttgart Open (WTA 500) — Round of 32
• Linz Open (WTA 500) — Round of 16

Sunshine Swing

• Miami Open (WTA 1000) — Round of 16
• Indian Wells Open (WTA 1000) — Round of 16

Middle East Swing

• Dubai Tennis Championships (WTA 1000) — Quarterfinals
• Qatar Open (WTA 1000) — Round of 64
• Abu Dhabi Open (WTA 500) — Quarterfinals

Philippine Women’s Open (WTA 125) — Quarterfinals

Australian Swing

• Australian Open (Grand Slam) — Round of 128
• ASB Classic (WTA 250) — Semifinals

—JMB, GMA News