Camille Naredo

Filipina tennis star Alex Eala at the WTA 125 Philippine Open. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News/File

Colombian tennis player Camila Osorio face Alex Eala in the WTA 125 Philippine Women’s Open quarterfinals at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center in Manila on January 29, 2026. A major crowd drawer, Eala failed to reach the semifinals after losing to Osorio (4-6, 4-6). Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News

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WTA125-PH OPEN QUARTERFINALS- OSORIO vs EALA

Dyan Castillejo

ABS-CBN News

<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/177537871880920260129-w125-ph-quarterfinals-eala-vs-osorio-JC-35.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Filipina tennis star Alex Eala at the WTA 125 Philippine Open. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News/File" width="960"/>Filipina tennis star Alex Eala at the WTA 125 Philippine Open. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News/File</div>MANILA -- This year marks a very special milestone for the Upper Austria Ladies Linz tournament as it celebrates its 35th anniversary. A long-standing member of the professional circuit, the organizers made a big change in 2026: switching the courts from hard to clay.This year will also see the debut of rising Filipina star Alex Eala, who starts her clay court swing in Linz. “It&#x27;s great to be with the tournament around the world on the Philippines. It&#x27;s great, you have an amazing player. Alexandra is unbelievable and I think it&#x27;s great for the Philippines, for the people, for the tennis fans in the Philippines to have such an amazing player,” tournament director Sandra Reichel said. <div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/othersports/2026/4/1/alex-eala-joins-fellow-players-on-the-players-box-podcast-0007">Alex Eala, fellow pros reveal off-court personalities on the Players Box Podcast</a></div>For Reichel, it is important to welcome newcomers like Eala as their tournament reaches its 35th year.&quot;We are really a long-standing member of the whole tour and it&#x27;s great always to welcome new players and newcomers and players who will own the future, I would say... so it&#x27;s great to welcome Alexandra here in Linz in  this special year,&quot; she said. The tournament is also thrilled to welcome top-seed Mira Andreeva (WTA #10) as a wild card. “Mira Andreeva is my new number one seed. I&#x27;m very happy to welcome her in Linz,” Reichel said. Additionally, former top-10 player Paola Badosa will compete. “With Paola Badosa, maybe to help her to come back is also great and I think she&#x27;s a great player and we will have some interesting matches,” she added. To mark the 35th anniversary, the courts were specially prepared. “We had to really build the courts because the facility normally you use it for fairs, so it is called the design center which is in the middle of the city and we have to build three courts, two match courts and one practice court and it took like five days to build them,” Reichel explained. “I always say I have the best team of the world, so my team was really very challenged in the last days but I have very positive feedback on the court and I think it will be a great tournament this year.”&quot;Yes. It&#x27;s a temporary court,&quot; she added. &quot;So after the tournament we cut it out and but it can be recycled again because it would have been really a nightmare to what are we doing with the court and it will be recycled after.&quot; Reichel added that they brought in 100 tons of clay to make the courts. The center court can accommodate about 3,000 spectators, while Court 1 has around 300 seats. <div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/othersports/2026/4/1/alex-eala-ramps-up-training-for-clay-court-swing-at-rafa-nadal-academy-0033">Alex Eala ramps up training for clay court swing at Rafa Nadal Academy </a> </div>She is optimistic about the new playing surface: “Clay court tennis is different, so for the spectators it will be a different atmosphere. I think we will have longer matches maybe, you will have longer matches so for us it&#x27;s also new. So, after the tournament I can tell you maybe more about the learnings but I have a very good feeling and it looks great.” Eala is scheduled to play on center court on April 6 or 7 with day and evening matches happening. “That&#x27;s the plan to put her on the center court,” Reichel confirmed. The tournament draw includes 28 players, with Eala seeded sixth. The top five seeds are Mira Andreeva (1), reigning champion when it was still on hardcourt Ekaterina Alexandrova (2), Clara Tauson (3), Liudmila Samsonova (4), and Jelena Ostapenko (5). With the new clay courts, organizers are confident it will showcase high-quality, strategic tennis.“After the tournament I can tell you maybe more about the learnings but I have a very good feeling and it looks great,” Reichel said.

This year marks a very special milestone for the Linz tournament as it celebrates its 35th anniversary.

This year marks a very special milestone for the Linz tournament as it celebrates its 35th anniversary.

'An amazing player': Tourney director welcomes Alex Eala to Linz Open

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'An amazing player': Tourney director welcomes Alex Eala to Linz Open

Dyan Castillejo,

ABS-CBN News

Published April 05, 2026 04:46 PM PHT

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tennis

Alex Eala

Linz

clay court

Upper Austria Ladies Linz tournament

Linz Open

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