Alex Eala is surely on cloud nine right now following her epic victory at the Washington Open, which confirmed her very first WTA Tour title.
The Filipina star defeated the top three seeds at the WTA 500 event to lift the trophy, gaining victories against Jessica Pegula in the final, as well as Naomi Osaka and Elina Svitolina.
Eala is now ranked world No 20 following her Washington triumph and there could be more to come as she is set to hit the Canadian Open and the Cincinnati Open before the US Open.
The 21-year-old might have made a mistake with her scheduling, however, and it could backfire on her at the Canadian Open.
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Eala has confirmed she will play doubles Venus Williams at the Toronto event, after previously passing on the chance at the Washington Open.
The pair previously played together on the grass at Bad Homburg, where they reached the quarter finals, but it’s hard not to think Eala has made a mistake by playing with the Grand Slam champion in Canada.
It can’t be a coincidence that Eala won the Washington Open after deciding not to play with Williams at the United States capital.
It freed her up to focus solely on the singles and she more than proved that she is one of the most in-form players on the WTA Tour right now.
Furthermore, Eala is already on a race against time at the Canadian Open, due to the unfortunate scheduling of the Washington Open final.
The final between Pegula and Eala was forced to play over two days due to a thunderstorm, which had derailed both ladies’ preparations for the Masters event.
Eala only arrived 24 hours before she was scheduled to play her singles match against Alycia Parks and her new doubles partnership ensures she will now not get a day off to try and acclimatise to the tournament.
Williams and Eala’s match, against Miyu Kato and Liudmila Samsonova, is scheduled for Thursday’s order of play, which means Eala could be playing every day if at the event if she survives in both formats.
That’s not ideal for a star who has just played 5 matches in the last week. Even if Eala does find a way to get through the tournament in both disciplines, it will surely hamper her chances across the rest of the North American hardcourt swing.
Eala is only defending 70 ranking points in singles until the end of the US Open and she has a real opportunity to continue soaring up the rankings.
Her doubles partnership with Williams will surely only hamper that, rather than help.
