Eala heads to Tokyo, aims to end slump

FILIPINO tennis ace Alexandra “Alex” Eala will head to Japan for the WTA 500 Tokyo Open, the penultimate tournament of the 2026 season. The competition will run from Oct. 26 to Nov. 1. Eala, ranked 20th in the world, will look to end a slump in the Asian Swing of the WTA Tour, where she holds a 1-3 win-loss record. Two of those defeats were against world No. 180 Tatiana Prozorova at the Singapore Open and against No. 217 Shi Han at the Wuhan Open. Eala ended her string of upset losses with a 6-3, 6-1 win over No. 34 Diane Parry in the first round of the Ningbo Open but fell to No. 13 Diana Shnaider in the second round, 5-7, 4-6, last Thursday. In Tokyo, Eala will confront another stacked field of netters including world No. 1 Elena Rybakina, No. 11 Maja Chwalinska, No. 12 Iva Jovic and No. 13 Shnaider. World No. 14 and defending champion Belinda Bencic is also listed as well as No. 15 Elise Mertens, No. 17 Sorana Cirstea and No. 19 Naomi Osaka. Also competing are No. 25 Ann Li, No. 29 Nikola Bartunkova, No. 30 Leylah Fernandez, No. 31 Maria Sakkari, No. 33 Ekaterina Alexandrova, No. 34 Parry, No. 35 Jasmine Paolini and No.42 Cristina Bucsa. The players who skipped the tournament include No. 4 Jessica Pegula, No. 6 Elina Svitolina, No. 9 Iga Swiatek and No. 23 Anna Kalinskaya. After Tokyo, Eala will wrap up her 2026 season at the 250 Hong Kong Open slated from Nov....