Alex Eala was set to face a qualifier in her opening match at the 2026 Qatar TotalEnergies Open, but she drew arguably the toughest one.
The 20-year-old Filipina will clash with the top seed of the qualifying round, 18-year-old Tereza Valentova of the Czech Republic, on Monday at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex in Doha, Qatar.
This marks Eala’s first WTA 1000 event of the year.
Eala comes off a successful campaign at the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open, where she reached the quarterfinals in singles and the semifinals in doubles — both career-best finishes for her in a WTA 500 event.
She will aim to carry that momentum into her clash with Valentova, one of the game’s fastest-rising stars.
Valentova is coming off an impressive Australian Open run, reaching the third round before falling to eventual champion Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan.
Valentova, the second-youngest player in the world’s top 50 behind American teen Iva Jovic, has faced three players this year that Eala also competed against in 2025.
The Czech defeated former French Open champion Jeļena Ostapenko of Latvia in the opening round of the Adelaide International. She then lost in the second round to 2025 Australian Open winner Madison Keys of the United States — both Grand Slam champions Eala defeated during her historic run at last year’s Miami Open.
Earlier this year, Valentova defeated hometown favorite Maya Joint in straight sets in the opening round of the 2026 Australian Open. Joint, 19, had beaten Eala in the finals of the WTA 250 Eastbourne Open last June.
The winner of the Eala-Valentova match will face the victor of the first-round clash between world No. 19 Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic and world No. 35 Jaqueline Cristian of Romania in the second round.
