Filipina tennis star Alex Eala has earned a first-round bye at the Cincinnati Open after securing the No. 17 seed in the WTA 1000 tournament, marking her highest seeding at the level.
Eala, currently ranked No. 20 in the world, will begin her Cincinnati campaign in the second round of the 128-player draw.
The 21-year-old will face the winner of the first-round match between Romania’s Elena-Gabriela Ruse and Poland’s Magda Linette. The two are scheduled to meet in the opening round on Thursday.
Eala enters Cincinnati after reaching the Round of 16 at the National Bank Open in Toronto, where she fell to Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic.
"Saya pala dito sa barangay Toronto," Alex Eala said in her Instagram post.
"Thank you for allowing me to experience beyond what I know. I am quite the lucky one," she added.
She is also coming off the biggest title of her career after winning the WTA 500 Mubadala Citi DC Open in Washington earlier this month, her maiden WTA Tour championship.
The Cincinnati Open serves as another key stop in Eala’s buildup to the US Open later this month.
