Filipina teen tennis sensation Alex Eala and recent SEA Games men’s doubles gold medalist Treat Huey will be in action this week in the Hamburg Ladies and Gents Cup at the Hamburg Tennis Verband in Germany as the two continue their respective campaigns in the international pro tour.
The 17-year-old Eala will be competing in the women’s singles of the W60 ITF Future Hamburg. The recent US Open Girls singles champion will be up against a tough field led by number one seed Kateryna Baindl Kozlova. The 28-year-old Ukrainian has played in the main draw of all four grand slam events, including the 2018 French Open where she eliminated in the opening round then defending champion Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia.
Second seed Ysaline Bonaventure, who holds the highest ranking in the field at 126th in the world, is a 28-year-old Belgian who is also a veteran of the grand slam events and has 15 ITF pro titles under her belt.
Now ranked 252nd in the world, a new career-high achievement after she made the quarterfinals of the W80 RSF Pro Open at the Rancho Santa Fe Tennis Club in the United States, Eala will be aiming for a deep run in the $60,000 women’s event as she attempts to further climb up the world rankings.
Eala will begin the tournament against 21-year-old Ekaterina Kazionova of Russia. A win in the first round will lead to a second round encounter against the winner of the match between Kozlova and Jana Fett of Croatia.
Huey will be partnering anew with Max Schnur in the men’s doubles competition where the pair has been installed as the tournament top seeds. They will be facing a duo of 21-year-olds, Duje Ajdukovic of Croatia and Jonas Forejtek of the Czech Republic, in the opening round of the €45,730 ATP Challenger event.
The 37-year-old Huey is now ranked 100th in the world in men’s doubles. He reached a career best 18th in the world in 2016, the same year he made the semifinals of Wimbledon and the quarterfinals of the Australian Open.
Huey and Schnur made the semifinals last week of the Saint Tropez Open in France.
