Alexandra “Alex” Eala will begin her hard-court swing against Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen of China at the Mubadala DC Open in Washington, but the Filipina will no longer compete in doubles with her originally listed partner, Venus Williams of the United States.

Eala, ranked WTA No. 29, was drawn against Zheng in the lower half of the 32-player singles field, according to the official draw released Sunday. The tournament is the first stop of the hard-court swing leading into the US Open, which is scheduled for Aug. 30 to Sept. 13 in Flushing Meadows, New York.

The draw also showed Williams with a different doubles partner, Russia’s Diana Shnaider, after the 46-year-old American had initially been paired with the 21-year-old Eala.

No reason has been disclosed for the change. Speaking at a pre-tournament press conference, Williams said she hoped to team up with Eala again after their quarterfinal run at the Bad Homburg Open last month.

“We had a great time playing at Bad Homburg so we were looking forward to playing again. It didn’t work out this time (but) I would love for there to be future times. We’ll see what happens,” said Williams, who also trained with Eala on Saturday.

Williams and Shnaider are scheduled to face Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Quinn Gleason of the United States in the first round.

With Eala out of the doubles field, her focus shifts to singles at the 500-level tournament, the first of three events she is using to build toward the US Open, the final Grand Slam of the season. The Washington event also gives players an early transition point from grass to North American hard courts before the larger stops in Canada and Cincinnati.

By ranking, Eala enters as the higher-ranked player inside the Top 30 against Zheng, who is now No. 123. Zheng had reached a career-high ranking of No. 4 but dropped in the standings following multiple injuries after winning the gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Eala and Zheng have not yet met on the professional tour. Their previous meeting came in the semifinals of the 2023 Asian Games in China, where Eala lost 1-6, 7-6 (7-5), 3-6. Zheng later went on to win the gold medal at that event.

The winner of the Eala-Zheng match will advance to a second-round meeting with either defending champion and No. 25 Leylah Fernandez, a Filipina-Canadian, or No. 51 Magda Linette of Poland.

After the Mubadala DC Open, Eala is set to compete at the National Bank Open from Aug. 3 to 13 in Toronto, Canada, and the Cincinnati Open from Aug. 13 to 23 in the United States before returning to the US Open. Those back-to-back events are part of the main lead-up stretch to New York, where players typically fine-tune match fitness and hard-court form.

Last year, Eala became the first Filipina to win a match in any Grand Slam main draw at the US Open. She later surpassed that milestone with a Round of 16 finish at Wimbledon, giving her additional momentum ahead of her return to New York.

Eala is also seeking a third WTA title after winning Guadalajara last year and Birmingham this year before Wimbledon, as part of her strong grass-court campaign.

That run earned her the “Star of the Swing” honor in the WTA online poll for the grass-court season, where she received 89% of the votes. She finished ahead of Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova, who had 7%, and runner-up Karolina Muchova, who had 3%. Both players are from Czechia. — John Bryan Ulanday