{"id":829413,"date":"2026-07-28T16:32:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T16:32:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/829413\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T16:32:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T16:32:18","slug":"alex-eala-kicks-off-mubadala-dc-open-run-vs-zheng-qinwen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/829413\/","title":{"rendered":"Alex Eala kicks off Mubadala DC Open run vs. Zheng Qinwen"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Published July 28, 2026 5:49pm <\/p>\n

Add GMA on Google <\/a> <\/p>\n

Make this your preferred source to get more updates from this publisher on Google. <\/p>\n

Alex Eala’s first match since her historic Wimbledon run will be no easy task, as the Filipina tennis ace squares off against China’s Zheng Qinwen in the opening round of the Mubadala DC Open on early Wednesday (Philippine time) in Washington DC, USA.<\/p>\n

READ MORE | Who is Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen? Alex Eala’s Round of 32 foe at Mubadala DC Open<\/a><\/p>\n

Eala and Zheng will meet at 1 a.m. at the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center as the 21-year-old Pinay resumes her WTA Tour run after a three-week break.<\/p>\n

The Mubadala DC Open is a WTA500 event played on the hard court and will be part of Eala’s preparations for the US Open, where the world No. 28 Filipina is tipped to earn a Main Draw entry.<\/p>\n

Eala and Zheng will face off for the first time since their thrilling clash in the Hangzhou Asian Games, where the Chinese bet eked out a 6-1, 6-7(7), 6-3 win over Eala in the semifinals before ruling the tournament altogether.<\/p>\n

Now ranked No. 123 by WTA, Zheng, also the reigning Olympic gold medalist, was once the world No. 4 after reaching her career-high mark in June 2025.<\/p>\n

\"Alex<\/p>\n

Gold medallist, China\u2019s Zheng Qinwen poses with her medal on the podium at the presentation ceremony for the women\u2019s singles tennis event on Court Philippe-Chatrier at the Roland-Garros Stadium during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, in Paris on August 3, 2024. (Photo by Patricia DE MELO MOREIRA \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

But the 23-year-old star had to undergo a right elbow surgery last July to miss several months of action.<\/p>\n

Like Eala, Zheng also saw action in both the Wimbledon and Bad Homburg Open, where she absorbed early exits in Round of 128 and Round of 16, respectively.<\/p>\n

The winner of this match will set up a Round of 16 date against seventh-seeded and defending champion Leylah Fernandez of Canada. <\/p>\n

Alex Eala’s Season recap (singles)Grass-court swingClay-court swingSunshine SwingMiddle East Swing<\/p>\n

Philippine Women\u2019s Open (WTA 125) \u2014 Quarterfinals<\/a><\/p>\n

Australian Swing<\/p>\n

\u2014JMB, GMA News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published July 28, 2026 5:49pm Add GMA on Google Make this your preferred source to get more updates…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":829414,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[5100,69099,64,63,11548,85,747,136926],"class_list":["post-829413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-alex-eala","tag-alexandra-eala","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-dc-open","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-zheng-qinwen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=829413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/829414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=829413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=829413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=829413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}