Alex Eala faces Shuai Zhang of China in London Queen’s Club

NO REST for the weary champion.

With only a day of breather, the newly-crowned Birmingham queen Alexandra “Alex” Eala plunges back to action with the HSBC Championships at the Queen’s Club in London as part of her long buildup for Wimbledon on June 29 to July 12.

And Ms. Eala will be in for a baptism of fire after her promotion to the main draw, crossing paths with two-time doubles Grand Slam champion Shuai Zhang of China.

Ms. Eala, on the heels of her second pro title conquest at the WTA 125 Lexus Birmingham Open on Sunday night, will look for a grand follow-up in the 500-level tour tentatively set at 5 p.m. on Tuesday (Manila time).

The HSBC Championships, one of the oldest grass tournaments in the world founded in 1889, is also known as the Queen’s Club Championships where Ms. Eala advanced into the main draw as a late replacement.

From a qualifier, the 21-year-old Filipina got the nod in lieu of Jessica Pegula and Hailey Baptiste of the United States due to injuries. The other replacement is Karolina Pliskova of Czechia.

Ms. Eala will march onto another grass queendom with an all-time high momentum and morale after winning her first grass title in the nearby Birmingham via a 5-7, 6-3, 7-5 squeaker against Czechia’s Nikola Bartunkova.

It’s Ms. Eala’s first win against any Czech player in her blooming career, going winless in her first 13 attempts.

The top-seeded Pinay nearly fell short from solving that Czech puzzle by wasting a 5-4 lead in the first set and squandering two championship points to escape with the win in two hours and 37 minutes for her second title that should serve handy in her bid at the bigger and tougher Queens Club field.

Ms. Eala’s first diadem was in the WTA 125 Guadalajara Open in Mexico.

“It’s one of those days where a little bit of luck and intention was what got me through. I’m motivated to keep working,” said Ms. Eala, who celebrated her feat with a late-dinner sandwich at her hotel before a quick windup to London.

At the Queen’s Club, Ms. Eala faces a stacked field led by world No. 2 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, No. 5 Amanda Anisimova of the United States, No. 9 Victoria Mboko of Canada, No. 11 Belinda Bencic of Switzerland and her good friend Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine, who reached the semifinals of the just-concluded French Open to climb to No. 12.

Ms. Eala improved to No. 33 from No. 37 as per the WTA rankings update on Monday after the French Open and the Birmingham Open, coupled by a $33,650 (more than P2 million) grand prize.

And just like in Birmingham, Ms. Eala is counting on the strength of the Filipino crowd once more in London.

“I like to say home is a people, not a place,” beamed Ms. Eala, who also looks forward to teaming up with former world No. 1 and seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams in the WTA 500 Bad Homburg Open on June 21 to 27 in Germany. — John Bryan Ulanday