Eala battles Thai netter to start Asiad gold bid

Manila Times - Sep 27, 2026

FILIPINO tennis ace Alex Eala faces Thai Patcharin Cheapchandej to start her 20th Asian Games women's singles gold medal bid at the Nagoya City Higashiyama Park Tennis Center in Nagoya, Japan. The 21-year-old Eala arrived in Japan on Saturday evening. Seeded No. 1 in the continental meet with a first-round bye, world No. 18 Eala takes on No. 510 Cheapchandej in the second round likely on Monday. The order of play for Monday's matches wasn't revealed yet as of writing. Cheapchandej dominated Pakistani Mahin Aftab Qureshi, 6-1, 6-1, in their first-round clash that lasted only 53 minutes on Sunday. If Eala gets past Cheapchandej, she will face either Iranian Mandegar Farzami or Taiwanese Joanna Garland in the quarterfinals. Eala also competes in the doubles side with Shaira Rivera, as they face the Hong Kong tandem of Lai Ching Laam and Liu Kallista in the first round. A win by Eala and Rivera would pit them against the Chinese duo of Jiang Xinyu and Yang Zhaoxuan in the second round. Jiang and Yang received a first-round bye. Meanwhile, another Filipino women's singles bet Tennielle Madis fell to No. 7 seed Himeno Sakatsume in the first round, 1-6, 0-6, on Sunday. At press time, Philippine mixed doubles players Rivera and Francis Alcantara...

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