The Philippines’ Alex Eala is in the main draw of a WTA 1000 tournament for the first time, after receiving a wild card from the Miami Open slated from March 21 to April 3.
The 16-year old Pinay phenom is among the eight women’s main draw wild card recipients headlined by 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin of the United States and former World No. 1 and four-time grand slam champion Naomi Osaka of Japan.
Completing the roster of the Miami women’s main draw wildcards are Australian Astra Sharma, Czech Linda Fruhvirtova, and Americans Hailey Baptiste, Ashlyn Krueger, and Robin Montgomery.
The 2021 W15 Manacor champion and Rafa Nadal Academy scholar, currently the WTA World No. 571, shared on a Facebook post, “I am excited to be playing the Miami Open!”
This will be the second time that Eala will compete as a wildcard in the WTA 1000 tilt at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, following her qualifying draw stint in 2021.
The then 15-year-old fell to Viktoria Kuzmova of Slovakia, 6-4, 4-6, 2-6, in the opening round of qualifiers.
This time around, Eala will be competing among the world’s best as the Miami Open announced that 71 out of the WTA Top 75 are entered to compete in the tournament.
Other slam winners in the acceptance list as of February 22, 2022 are Garbine Muguruza of Spain, Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, Angelique Kerber of Germany, Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic, Simona Halep of Romania, Barbora Krejcikova of Czech Republic, Iga Swiatek of Poland, Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, Sloane Stephens of the United States, and Emma Raducanu of Great Britain.
Also in the Miami acceptance list are Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, Paula Badosa of Spain, Maria Sakkari of Greece, Belinda Bencic of Switzerland, Karolina Pliskova of Czech Republic, Anett Kontaveit of Estonia, Coco Gauff of the United States, and Leylah Fernandez of Canada.
Defending champion and World No. 1 Ashleigh Barty of Australia, has withdrawn from the event, citing that her body has not recovered the way she had hoped after winning the Australian Open in January.
The qualifying rounds will take place from March 21 to 22 while the women’s main draw will kick off on March 22.
As the Miami Open is a joint ATP Masters 1000 and WTA 1000 event, the men’s main draw will begin on March 23.
The ATP acceptance list is bannered by World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev of Russia, Alexander Zverev of Germany, Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, Matteo Berrettini of Italy, Andrey Rublev of Russia, Casper Ruud of Norway, Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada, Jannik Sinner of Italy, and defending champion Hubert Hurkacz of Poland.
The men’s main draw has five wildcards: former World No. 1 and three-time grand slam champion Andy Murray of Great Britain, Nick Kyrgios of Australia, Jack Draper of Great Britain, Jordan Thompson of Australia, and Juncheng Shang of China.
