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

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

Vecic, 29, a 2024 Wimbledon semifinalist, is now ranked No. 69 but still remains among the players to watch in the competition sanctioned by the WTA, organized by the Philippine Tennis Association and supported by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC).

She reached a career-high No. 17 in the WTA rankings last year.

On the other hand, Maria, 38, who posted a career-best No. 36 last year, topped London’s Queen’s Club in June last year for her fourth WTA crown — the oldest Tour singles titlist since Serena Williams triumphed at 2020 Auckland also at 38.

The highest rated player in the main draw after Maria is China’s Xinyu Wang (No. 57), who teamed up with Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei in clinching the 2023 French Open women’s doubles crown.

PSC Chair Patrick Gregorio and Philippine Tennis Association (Philta) officials inspected the progress of the facility’s refurbishment on Jan. 2.

“No Christmas break, no New Year break. No holiday break. Everybody’s here, Philta is here, [PSC] Commissioners, PSC people are here,” Gregorio said in a news release over the weekend.

“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.”

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

Eala and Tjen qualified for the main draw of the Australian Open that runs from Jan. 18 to Feb. 1 in Melbourne. (PSC Media)