Who is Alex Eala’s first round Qatar Open opponent? 18-year-old Czech star who idolises Djokovic & Sinner
Following her positive run at the Abu Dhabi Open, Alex Eala will compete at the Qatar Open, and she has now learned her first opponent at the WTA 1000 tournament.
At the WTA 500 in Abu Dhabi, Eala defeated Zeynep Sonmez and Aliaksandra Sasnovich before losing to world No 11 Ekaterina Alexandrova in the quarter-finals.
The Filipina, who started the week as the world No 45, has risen to a projected new career-high ranking of 39th in the Live WTA Rankings.
Eala will now make her debut at the prestigious event in Doha, which will be held from February 8 to 14.
The 20-year-old will face a fellow rising star, Tereza Valentova — who defeated Arina Rodionova and Ella Seidel to qualify in Doha.
Who is Tereza Valentova?
Tereza Valentova was born on 20 February 2007 in Prague, Czech Republic to Jitka Janackova and Marcel Valenta.
Her mother, Jitka, was a sprint canoeist who represented Czechoslovakia at the 1992 Olympics and Czech Republic at the 1996 Olympics.
Valentova began playing tennis when she was three after watching her father playing, and she trains at the renowned TK Sparta Prague — a tennis club and training centre.
In 2024, Valentova named Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner as two of her tennis idols.
“Just the way he plays, Novak I admire, and Sinner, he is great,” Valentova said.
According to her WTA website bio, Valentova is studying economics.
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Tereza Valentova’s career
Valentova achieved some stellar junior results, having won the girls’ singles and doubles titles at the 2024 French Open and reached the singles final at the 2023 US Open girls’ event.
The 18-year-old broke into the top 100 of the WTA Rankings for the first time in July last year after reaching her maiden tour-level semi-final at the Prague Open. This came after she won WTA Challenger/125 events in June and July.
Valentova reached her first-ever WTA Tour final at the 250 tournament in Japan in October, losing to Leylah Fernandez.
Her best Grand Slam result to date is reaching the third round at the 2026 Australian Open in what was just her third major main draw appearance.
The Czech is currently at her career-high singles ranking of world No 44. She holds a 24-19 (55.8%) record in tour-level matches.
Have Alex Eala and Tereza Valentova played before?
In the pair’s first and only previous encounter, Valentova earned a dominant 6-1, 6-2 win against Eala in October at the 2025 Japan Open.
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