2026 Schedule Update | Alexandra Eala and Janice Tjen secure wildcards in Abu Dhabi while former world No. 1 joins Transylvania

Wildcards were announced for the upcoming WTA tournaments with the start of the Middle East swing at the Abu Dhabi Open. Among the beneficiaries are Alexandra Eala and Janice Tjen, two players who received wildcards for the WTA 500 Abu Dhabi Open to make their debut in the tournament, which begins on February 1.

With the Australian Open coming to an end, the WTA Tour will quickly move on to the next stage of the season, with a February marked by the WTA 1000 Qatar Open and the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. In the build-up to the first WTA 1000 events of the year, Abu Dhabi has emerged as the most important stop to adjust to new conditions following the Australian Open.

Initially, both Eala and Tjen were entered to play qualifying in Abu Dhabi, but the invitations grant them direct entry into the demanding main draw, which includes players such as Elena Rybakina, Victoria Mboko and Zheng Qinwen. The defending champion is Belinda Bencic, who defeated Ashlyn Krueger — another player who will be part of the tournament draw — in last year’s final.

However, Abu Dhabi is not the only event of the week — nor the only one to announce its wildcards. The WTA 250 Transylvania Open in Cluj-Napoca announced former world No. 1 Karolina Plískova as part of the main draw after receiving a wildcard from the organisers. She will join a draw led by former US Open champion Emma Raducanu.

Transylvania will be a good opportunity for lower-ranked players to collect wins and points — especially while the biggest stars have their focus set on the Middle East tournaments. Local players Jaqueline Cristian and Sorana Cirstea are among the strongest names in the draw, which also includes Xinyu Wang, Anastasia Potapova and Donna Vekić.

Another tournament taking place during the week will be the WTA 250 Ostrava Open, which confirmed Lucie Havlíckova as its first wildcard — the 20-year-old player currently ranked world No. 274. The tournament will be played for the first time since 2022 — the year Barbora Krejčíková won the title, defeating Iga Swiatek in the final — although this time with a much less star-studded draw, led by Emiliana Arango (No. 46) and Tatjana Maria (No. 54).

Eala quickly takes on new commitments in a hectic early-season schedule. After reaching the semi-finals at the ASB Classic in Auckland, the Filipina was defeated in the first round of the Australian Open by American Alycia Parks. Following her elimination, the 20-year-old player travelled back to her native Philippines to compete in the WTA 125 Manila event, which is being played this week in parallel with the second week of the Australian Open.

So far, Eala has been dominant at home, a tournament where she entered as the second seed and has delivered convincing victories over Alina Charaeva (No. 163) — 6-1, 6-2 — and Jimen Sakatsume (No. 140) by 6-4, 6-0. In the quarter-finals, she faces a complicated challenge against former world No. 33 Camila Osorio (No. 84).

At the moment, Eala is already reaping positive rewards from this strong start to the year and continues to climb the rankings. Her campaign in Manila has already placed her at No. 45 in the live rankings — the best ranking of her career — while advancing to the semi-finals would see her rise as high as No. 43.