RETURNING to the WTA 125 circuit after a brief appearance at the French Open, Alex Eala starts her grasscourt campaign at the Lexus Birmingham Open in Great Britain.
Entering as the tournament’s top seed, the world No. 37 headlines the field alongside fellow Southeast Asian Janice Tjen of Indonesia, Germany’s Tatjana Maria, and Australia’s Talia Gibson in the top four.
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This will be Eala’s first tournament since the year’s second Grand Slam at Roland Garros, where she suffered a first-round exit at the hands of 17th seed and former doubles partner Iva Jokic.
It also marks her 15th tournament of the 2026 season following stints in Auckland, Australia, Manila, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Dubai, California, Miami, Linz, Stuttgart, Madrid, Italy, and Strasbourg.
Eala will compete in both the women’s singles and doubles events.
She opens her singles campaign against familiar foe Priscilla Hon of Australia, currently ranked No. 143. The two previously faced each other in 2023 and 2024 and split their meetings.
Hon is coming off a Round of 32 exit at the hands of Susan Bandecchi in the Parma Ladies Open, another WTA 125 event.
Meanwhile, in doubles play, Eala teams up with Czech player Nikola Bartunkova, ranked No. 69 in doubles, for the first time. The pair will face British duo Harriet Dart and Maia Lumsden on Monday, not before 5:30 p.m.
As Eala aims to build momentum on grass heading to Wimbledon, she has also committed to the qualifiers of the HSBC Championships and Berlin Tennis Open before receiving a main draw wildcard entry to the prestigious Bad Homburg Open.
She is likely to skip the Eastbourne Open, where she reached the semifinals last year.
To maintain her standing in the WTA rankings, Eala will need to defend 219 grasscourt points, with 163 coming from Eastbourne, 27 from Ilkley, 18 from Nottingham, 10 from Wimbledon, and one from Birmingham.
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