ALEX Eala will be hoping that Japan would be far more kinder to her than China as she begins her campaign in the Toray Pan Pacific Open.
Coming in as the eighth seed in the WTA 500 tournament, Eala will take on wildcard Mika Stojsavljevic of Great Britain in her first-round match on Monday in Tokyo.
Stojsavljevic is currently ranked No. 308 in the world rankings, although reached a career-best 261st back in June 2024.
That was when the 17-year-old won the girls singles title at the 2024 US Open, where she beat Iva Jovic in the semifinals and Wakana Sonobe of Japan in the final.
Eala, 21, is currently ranked 20th in the world, a dip from her career-best No. 18 after losing four of her last seven matches since a historic run to the US Open round of 32 last month.
She lost to world No. 117 Tatiana Prozorova of Russia at the Singapore Open and to world No. 177 Shi Han in her Wuhan Open Open. Although she hurdled two matches as the top seed at the Asiad, she fell short of the gold medal after losing to world No. 81 Wang Xiyu in the semifinals.
Eala's last campaign saw her exit at the round-of-16 stage of the Ningbo Open in China after losing a close battle against Diana Shnaider.
If Eala wins, she will be taking on the winner of the match between Australia's Talia Gibson and a qualifier in the second round, before a potential rematch against world No. 13 Diana Shnaider in the quarterfinals.
World No. 1 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, Maja Chwalinska of Poland, Jovic, and Shnaider all earned byes in the latest tournament of the WTA's Asian swing which stakes a $185,500 cash prize to the winner.
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