MANILA, Philippines — Alex Eala is off to a new season with high hopes and lofty goals following a banner year that catapulted her to one of the tennis world’s brightest young stars.

Eala is seeded fourth in the WTA 250 ASB Classic starting today at ASB tennis Center in Auckland, New Zealand, which serves as one of her warm-up tournaments for the highly anticipated Australian Open in Melbourne next week.

“Nobody say I didn’t manifest it. Let’s the start the 2026 season, shall we?,” said Eala on her Instagram, sharing a throwback photo of her playing on hardcourt before rising to the world stage.

Ranked No. 53 in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) rankings, the 20-year-old Filipina comes in only behind the top three seeds in Elina Svitolina (WTA No. 14) of Ukraine as well as the American pair of Emma Navarro (WTA No. 15) and Iva Jovic (WTA No. 35) per the official draw.

Also in the fray of the loaded main draw is the 45-year-old and seven-time major champion Venus Williams, who will also play in the Australian Open, as a wildcard along with Indonesia’s Janice Tjen, France’s Varvara Gracheva, Croatia’s Petra Marcinko, Hungary’s Panna Udvardy and Mexico’s Zarazua, whom Eala already faced in other WTA Tour legs.

Eala and Jovic will team up in the doubles tourney against the powerhouse duo of Svitolina and Williams, scheduled at 8:50 a.m. before her singles campaign slated at 6 a.m. Tuesday.

Svitolina, a former WTA Tour finals champion, and the decorated Williams will serve as two of the biggest and brightest opponents of Eala in her booming career so far after beating former Grand Slam champions Iga Swiatek of Poland, Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia and Madison Keys of the United States at the Miami Open last year.

As one of the top seeds in the singles, Eala drew WTA No. 69 Donna Vekic of Serbia in the Round of 32 Tuesday after the ongoing qualifiers.

Vekic, whose career-high was at No. 17, is also among the participants in the historic Philippine Women’s Open slated from January 16-31 at the refurbished Rizal Memorial Tennis Center in Manila, where Eala is in line for a grand homecoming.

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World No. 45 Tatjana Maria of Germany, No. 55 Xinyu Wang of China, No. 66 Solana Sierra of Argentina are also in as the country, thanks to the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), becomes part of the WTA Tour for the first time ever.

Eala, according to the Philippine Tennis Association (PHILTA) announcement Sunday, has secured a wildcard entry in the Manila tilt. But like the other top-ranked players, her availability will depend on the result of the Australian Open, which kicks off its main draw on January 18.

But first things first for Eala, which plunges to the ASB Classic as the first of her two tests ahead of the Australian Open, where she is set for a main draw debut. Eala will also vie in the Kooyong Classic from January 13-15 in Melbourne for her final pre-AO tourney.

The lefty sensation earned a direct entry in the 103-player main draw as Top-100 player in the world rankings after settling for wildcard invites in the qualifying rounds in the previous years. She bowed to Croatia’s Jana Fett in Round 1 last year, 7-5, 6-2.

The Austrian Open main draw remains as the only major Eala has not played in after strutting her stuff in the Wimbledon, French Open and US Open, where she became the first Filipina winner in any Grand Slam main draw last year following a stunning upset of World No. 15 and 2025 ASB Classic champion Clara Tauson of Denmark, 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (13-11).

Eala won the AO girls’ doubles crown in 2020, teaming up with Indonesian pal Priska Madelyn Nugroho, underscoring her caliber then as the world No. 2 junior player before climbing to the women’s pro as now one of the world’s rising stars.