A bye, then the real work starts
The Singapore draw is out, and Alex Eala has come away with status and a headache. The status: third seed, so she skips round one. The headache: everything else.
The Filipino will open in round two against Sofia Costoulas, world No. 152, or Tatiana Prozorova, 178th. She has never faced either player on tour. The event starts on Monday.
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Vekic, Anisimova, Andreeva
It gets nasty quickly after that. In the quarter-finals, Eala could run into Donna Vekic, world No. 37, Queen’s champion and former world No. 17. The left-hander leads their head-to-head 2-0 this season, with a three-set win in Auckland and another in straight sets in Berlin. Both were tight matches.
In the semi-finals, it could be Amanda Anisimova, the second seed and a former US Open and Wimbledon finalist. The American won their only meeting in Cincinnati in August, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, in the final warm-up event before the US Open.
And in the final, Mirra Andreeva. The Roland-Garros champion is the top seed. The two have never met on the WTA Tour. They do know each other, though. Eala beat the Russian on the way to her junior US Open title in 2022.
A stacked field of 28 players
The trouble does not stop there. Maja Chwalinska reached a Roland-Garros final. So did Leylah Fernandez at the US Open. Barbora Krejcikova has two Grand Slam titles. Maria Sakkari was once world No. 3. All four are in this draw.
Andreeva will start against Daria Kasatkina or Aliaksandra Sasnovich. Anisimova faces Talia Gibson or wildcard Fiona Ferro. Elise Mertens, the defending champion and fourth seed, is projected to meet Andreeva in the semi-finals.
The event has grown up fast. Last year, it was staged in late January as a WTA 250 with 32 players. This time, it has been upgraded to a WTA 500, with the field trimmed to 28. The four seeded players who receive byes are already guaranteed 60 points and $18,045. The champion will collect $185,500 and 500 points, with the runner-up earning $114,500 and 325 points.
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