Eala gets No. 3 seed in Singapore Open

ALEXANDRA “Alex” Eala is poised to secure the No. 3 seed and a first-round bye at the WTA 500 Singapore Tennis Open slated from Sept. 21 to 27 at the OCBC Arena, The Kallang. Initially seeded No. 6, world No. 18 Eala moved three places up after No. 3 Jessica Pegula, No. 13 Diana Shnaider and No. 15 Sorana Cirstea pulled out of the tournament. Pegula, Shnaider and Cirstea were supposed to claim the No. 1, No. 4 and No. 5 seeds, respectively. The top four seeds in the 28-player field earn a first-round bye, starting their campaign in the second round. French Open champion No. 5 Mirra Andreeva and No. 10 Amanda Anisimova are the No. 1 and No. 3 seeded players, respectively. The other direct entrants listed on the tournament website are world No. 19 Elise Mertens, No. 21 Ekaterina Alexandrova, No. 26 Maja Chwalinska, No. 28 Sara Bejlek and No. 33 Maria Sakkari. Completing the list are No. 37 Donna Vekic, No. 38 Barbora Krejcikova, No. 40 Wang Xinyu, No. 41 Oleksandra Oliynykova and No. 51 Janice Tjen. The Singapore Open serves as Eala’s perfect buildup for the Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan. The Asian Games tennis play will run from Sept. 27 to Oct....