Filipino fans in Australia eagerly await their idol Alexandra ‘Alex’ Eala who already departed from Auckland to play an exhibition match against Donna Vekić of Croatia in the 2026 Kooyong Classic before she competes in the year’s first Grand Slam in Melbourne.
Eala comes off a semifinal appearance in the Auckland Savings Bank (ASB) where she ousted Vekić in the first round as a home-like crowd fueled her thrilling comeback win over the Paris Olympics silver medalist.
Looking back in her last year’s performance, Eala enthused as she faced the crowd who cheered in her dramatic win: “If there’s one thing I learned in 2025, it’s that home is the people and not the place.”
In the grueling match up, the Filipina star shrugged off a slow start, which saw her struggle with high balls, after starting 3-0 in the opener. Vekic then capitalized on her errors late to capture an early lead.
But the 20-year-old Eala then brushed off Vekic’s runs from there, holding off the Croatian in the latter stages of the second set to force a decider.
The Filipino eked out the victory in thrilling fashion in the third set as Eala wrapped up the win, breaking serve multiple times and stunning Vekic, who has been on a slump in her past tournaments.
“She is such an experienced player and super talented, and really very decorated,” Eala described her opponent after winning. Eala acknowledged the early struggles but relished pushing past them against a battle-tested opponent like Vekic, who’s currently ranked No. 69 after peaking at No. 17 in the world rankings.
“I really had a tough time today. But I’m so happy to be able to show up in a level like this, especially after such a tough preseason and all the so many things that happened over the last month,” she asserted.
After Kooyoong, Eala will proceed to compete in the Australian Open where the prize fund for this year has been increased by 16 percent to A$111.5 million ($74.88 million or ₱4.439 billion), making it the largest purse in the tournament’s history.
The two singles champions in the tournament will each pocket A$4.15 million, up from the A$3.5 million which Jannik Sinner and Madison Keys took home last year.
