Alexandra "Alex" Eala's bid for redemption begins in China, where the 21-year-old Filipina meets French player Diane Parry for the first time in the opening round of the WTA 500 Ningbo Open, an event on the tier just below the WTA 1000 level.

Slated tentatively for noon on Monday (Manila time), the match offers Ms. Eala another chance to steady the ship after three successive defeats as a heavy favorite.

Ranked No. 19 and among the most prominent players on the tour, Ms. Eala has bowed to three opponents sitting at least 60 places below her in the rankings — a stretch that should serve as a wake-up call heading into her meeting with Ms. Parry.

As the No. 3 seed, she fell to No. 117 Tatiana Prozorova of Russia in the Round of 16 of the WTA 500 Singapore Open, then lost to world No. 217 Han Shi of China in the first round of the WTA 1000 Wuhan Open.

Her skid extended to the 20th Asian Games in Japan. As the No. 1 seed in a field missing many of Asia's top players, Ms. Eala fell short of her best shot at gold after a semifinal loss to No. 91 Xiyu Wang of China, settling for another bronze medal in the second straight edition of the Games. That campaign also cost her a chance to play the WTA 1000 China Open in Beijing, forfeiting ranking points and a push for the WTA Finals — the season event for the world's Top 8 players — scheduled Nov. 8 to 15 in Indian Wells.

Waiting in Ningbo is a demanding opener. Ms. Parry, 24, is a regular Grand Slam campaigner ranked No. 32, and she arrives in form, coming off a championship at the WTA 500 Monterrey Open as part of the North American swing.

Ms. Eala, a lefty who has drawn a vote of confidence and support from Filipinos led by the Philippine Tennis Association amid her rare struggle, produced her own highlights on that same swing. She captured the WTA 500 Mubadala Citi DC Open in Washington for her first-ever WTA Tour title, a breakthrough that snowballed into a third-round finish at the US Open, where her No. 29 seeding was the highest ever for Philippine tennis.

That run catapulted Ms. Eala to a WTA distinction as the "Star of the Swing" for the North American hardcourt leg, adding to the same honor she won for the European grass-court season, which was marked by a fourth-round finish at Wimbledon and a 125 title in Birmingham on the tier just below tour-level play.

The Asian swing, however, has been a tale of day and night by comparison — a stretch she hopes to finally turn around in Ningbo, where a bevy of top guns awaits, led by the returning world No. 1 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan. Ms. Rybakina, the reigning Ningbo champion, skipped the Wuhan Open to recover from a foot injury she suffered in a stunning early exit in Beijing.

A win by Ms. Eala over Ms. Parry would arrange a duel against Ningbo's No. 6 seed Diana Shnaider of Russia, the world No. 13, who received a first-round bye.

— with a report from John Bryan Ulanday