Paris Olympic silver medalist Krevic, world No. 45 Maria head early PH Open entry list

FORMER world No. 2 and Paris Olympic silver medalist Donna Krevic of Croatia and resurgent German veteran Tatjana Maria, ranked No. 45 in the world, head the impressive list of early entries in the inaugural Philippine Women’s Open kicking off Jan. 26 at the newly-refurbished Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.

Both were on the provisional list of 24 players released over the weekend by the Women’s Tennis Association in the 32-player draw for the country’s first WTA 125 tournament.

Ranked second in the WTA ratings at the turn of 2024, Krevic, 29, a 2024 French Open semifinalist, is now ranked No. 69 but still remains among the players to watch in the blue-ribbon competition organized by the Philippine Tennis Association and supported by the Philippine Sports Commission.

Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Chairman Patrick Gregorio and Philippine Tennis Association (PHILTA) officials inspected the progress of the facility's refurbishment on Friday.

“22 days to go before WTA 125. So no Christmas break, no New Year break. No holiday break. Everybody's here, PHILTA is here, [PSC] Commissioners, PSC people are here," said Gregorio.

“We're all here just to make sure we transform Rizal Tennis [Center] as a showcase for the first-ever hosting of the WTA 125 in Manila," added Gregorio.

The right-handed Krevic is a product of the famed IMG Academy founded by noted American tennis instructor Nick Bolletieri that also produced the likes of Grand Slam champions Andre Agassi, Jim Courier, Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams, among others.

Since turning pro at 17, the Croatian, who has four career titles, has earned a whopping $10,217,035 (around P601 million) over her career and does charity work in her hometown of Osijek , opening three public courts modelled after Grand Slam venues.

On the other hand, Maria, 38, who reached a career-high of No. 36, showed that she has not lost her edge despite her age, achieving a stirring win at the Queen Club Championships in June last year for her fourth WTA Title.

She outplayed fancied young American Amanda Asiminova, 23, 6-3, 6-4 in the women’s singles finals, becoming the oldest woman at 37 to win a WTA 500 singles plum. She was also among the oldest to be victorious on the WTA tour since Serena Wiliams did it in the ASB Classic in Auckland in 2020 at 38.

Now with two children and handled by husband-coach Charles Maria, the tennis player also reached the 2022 Wimbledon semifinals and has four career titles under her belt.

Krevic and Maria are among the 10 players in the WTA top 100 of the prestigious tournament sanctioned by the WTA and supported by the Philippine Sports Commission.

‘The highest rated player in the main draw after Maria is China’s Xinxu Wang (No. 57), whose claim to fame was teaming up with Taiwanese doubles legend Hsieh Shu-Wei in clinching the 2023 French Open women’s doubles crown.

Wang combined with Shu-wei brilliantly in coming from behind to stun the tandem of Fil-Canadian Leylah Fernandez and American Taylor Townsend 1-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-1 in the finals.

Also vying in the netfest are Kazakhstan’s Yulina Putintseva (No. 71), Colombia’s Camila Osorio (No. 77), China’s Yue Yuan (No. 83), Switzerland’s Simona Waltert (No. 87), New Zealand’s Lulu Sun (No. 90), Japan’s Moyuka Uchijima (No. 94) and Australia’s Kimberly Berrell (No. 98).

In the event they are available, hometown favorite and 33rd Thailand Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Alex Eala (No. 53) and Indonesia’s Janice Tjien (No. 56) were awarded wild cards by PHILTA.

Eala and Tjien are committed to play in the main draw of the Australian Open that runs from Jan. 18 to Feb. 1 at the Melbourne Park hardcourts in Melbourne, Australia, and which overlaps with the Philippine Women’s Open. (MCO-EM)

In photo: PSC Chairman Patrick Gregorio with Philta officials and Local Organizing Committee