BACK on her favored surface, Alex Eala will face China's Zheng Qinwen in the first round of the Mubadala DC Open.
The WTA 500 tournament in Washington kicks off Eala's North American swing leading up to the US Open, the year's final Grand Slam.
The Filipina world No. 29 will reunite with her tormentor from the 2023 Asian Games, the Chinese star who also went on to win an Olympic gold in Paris 2024.
In 2023, Zheng defeated Eala, 6-1, 6(5)-7, 6-3, in the Asiad semifinals, forcing the Filipina to settle for bronze, while the Chinese star went on to capture the gold medal.
At one point, Zheng was ranked fourth in the world, but now finds herself at No. 123 after being sidelined by injury for nearly a year. She returned to action last February, but has since struggled to regain her form, resulting in a steep drop in the rankings.
Eala and Zheng are scheduled to meet on Monday, with the exact match time yet to be determined.
What came before
Eala is coming off a breakthrough Wimbledon campaign, where she reached the Round of 16 before bowing to Jasmine Paolini.
READ: Taste of 'Eala-mania' well worth the wait in Alex's homecoming
Zheng, meanwhile, suffered a first-round exit at Wimbledon, but later reached the quarterfinals of the WTA 250 Athens Open, where she lost to Barbora Krejcikova.
The tournament draws were released on Saturday.
As of writing, however, Eala is absent from the doubles draw despite being expected to reunite with Venus Williams for the second tournament of their partnership.
While no announcement was made to justify the apparent change, Diana Shnaider took Eala's place in the doubles draw.
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