Rain was the hardest part of Alex Eala‘s Asian Games debut on Monday. Her match was set for center court at Nagoya’s Higashiyama Park Tennis Center, in front of fans. Instead, the weather held it up for about five hours and moved it twice: first to the show court, then indoors to Court C, a court normally used for practice.

Once play started, it was over quickly. Eala beat Thailand’s Patcharin Cheapchandej 6-1, 6-0 in 55 minutes and closed the match with an ace.

A Practice Court for the Player Who Gave Up Beijing

The Asian Games, Asia’s largest multi-sport event, comes around every four years, and playing this one cost Eala something. It overlaps with the China Open in Beijing, a WTA 1000 event, the tier just below the four majors that top-ranked players are required to enter. Skipping it could get her fined or docked ranking points by the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association), a trade-off ElysPlanet covered when she made the call. The Philippine Tennis Association (PHILTA) put it simply: “She chose to play for the flag.”

So the world No. 18 passed on one of the richest events of the season and opened her Asian Games on a practice court. It made no difference.

The Singapore Question

Four days earlier, things looked shakier. At the Singapore Open, where she was the No. 3 seed, Eala lost in the round of 16 to Russia’s Tatiana Prozorova, ranked No. 180, 6-4, 5-7, 3-6. That match was the biggest win of Prozorova’s career, and it sent Eala to Japan with questions about her form.

She kept expectations low afterward: “I think I have as big a chance as any other person on the draw.” Modest words from the top seed.

Monday showed none of that caution. Eala won the first four games and took the opening set in 32 minutes. Cheapchandej, 31 and ranked outside the world’s top 500, had cruised through her own opener 6-1, 6-1 against Pakistan’s Mahin Aftab Qureshi. Against Eala she won a single game, and the second set was a bagel, tennis slang for a 6-0 set.

They had met once before, at an ITF event in Chiang Rai in 2022. Eala won that one 6-3, 6-4 on her way to the title. The margin was a lot bigger this time.

One Win From a Medal

Next is eighth seed Joanna Garland in Tuesday’s quarterfinal. Garland, 25, is British-Taiwanese, ranked No. 143, and plays for Chinese Taipei, the name Taiwan competes under at international events.

Both losing semifinalists get a bronze in Asian Games tennis, so beating Garland guarantees Eala a medal. That’s how she came home from Hangzhou with bronze in women’s singles and mixed doubles. Gold is worth more: the men’s and women’s singles champions in Aichi-Nagoya each earn an automatic place at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, which would be the Philippines’ first qualification spot for those Games.

The country could use the gold. The Philippines has two so far, both from gymnast Carlos Yulo, well short of the national target of eight. Eala, the reigning Southeast Asian Games women’s singles champion after winning gold in Bangkok last December, is its best bet outside gymnastics.

The rest of the tennis team hasn’t had it as easy. Tennielle Madis, the country’s No. 2 player, went out in her opener, 1-6, 0-6 to Japan’s Himeno Sakatsume. Eala also has doubles on Tuesday: she and Shaira Rivera, who played college tennis at the University of Alabama, open against Hong Kong’s Lai Ching Laam and Kallista Liu.

Two matches in one day, then, and another look at the forecast.

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What’s Next

• Singles quarterfinal: Eala vs. Joanna Garland (Chinese Taipei, 8th seed). Tuesday, Sept 29.
• Women’s doubles, first round: Eala/Rivera vs. Lai Ching Laam/Kallista Liu (Hong Kong). Tuesday, Sept 29.
• Venue: Nagoya City Higashiyama Park Tennis Center, Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.
• What’s at stake: A quarterfinal win guarantees at least bronze. Singles gold includes an automatic LA 2028 Olympic berth.