The year has just begun but Alex Eala is already proving that she deserves to sit at the table with some of the brightest stars of professional tennis.

With another young gun in 18-year-old Iva Jovic of the United States as partner, the 20-year-old Eala displayed impressive form to stun legendary Venus Williams of the US and Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, 7-6, 6-1, in the opening salvo of the women’s doubles event of the Auckland Open at the ASB Tennis Center in New Zealand.

It only took 90 minutes for the youthful pair to humiliate the 45-year-old Williams and the 31-year-old Svitolina to advance to the quarterfinals of the prestigious event that serves as a warmup for the Australian Open in Melbourne that starts on 18 January.

Eala and Jovic will face either be top-seeded tandem of Asia Muhammad of the US and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand or the pair of Jesika Maleckov of Czech Republic and Renata Zarazua of Mexico in the next round. 

Still, it was a surreal moment for Eala as she was able to add the seven-time Grand Slam champion Williams and the world No. 18 Svitolina to her impressive list of victims that includes world No. 2 Iga Swiatek of Poland, Madison Keys of the US and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia. 

“Thank you for supporting me and Iva. I had such a good time on the court,” said Eala, who was born in 2005 — the same year when Williams conquered the women’s singles event of the Wimbledon.

She added that she is looking up Williams and Svitolina so winning over them in a crucial event ahead of the Australian Open is truly a special moment.

“I think we had a lot of fun and, you know, just to start the year with such a moment like this and sharing the court with two pioneers of the sport, people I looked up to since I was young, so I am so happy to be able to share this moment with you and all of you guys.”

Even Jovic, a rising star of Serbian descent and is currently at No. 35 in the world ranking, expressed happiness to beat two of the biggest names in professional tennis with the Filipina sensation as her partner.

“I’m so happy. It’s been a pleasure to share the court with you, Alex,” said Jovic, who is the youngest American to win a Grand Slam event when she beat Magda Linette in the US Open when she was just 16 years old two years ago.

“It’s our first time playing doubles together and to play against the legends of the game is unbelievable. I’m still shaking.”

Eala and Jovic’s victory was a tale of two contrasting sets.

Using their wealth of experience to their advantage, Svitolina and Williams roared early, posting a 5-3 lead in a bid to demoralize the rising stars. But Eala and Jovic broke back and followed ip up by holding their serves to force a tie.

Trailing 6-7 in the tiebreak, Eala and Jovic secured the next three points to gain a 1-0 set lead before completely dictating the tempo in the second set with a blazing start for a 4-0 advantage.

Although Svitolina and Williams refused to quit by winning the fifth game, the power, hunger and youthful energy of the Eala-Jovic tandem were too much, paving the way for the convincing victory.

Eala, however, will hardly have a rest as she will march to warzone anew to face Paris Olympics silver medalist and world No. 17 Donna Vekic of Croatia in the women’s singles event starting at 2:10 p.m. on Tuesday (Manila time) at the same venue.

The world No. 53 Eala hopes to bring the momentum to her singles match against another tough foe who stands in the way of her quest for her second Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) title.

The 29-year-old Vekic, who sits at No. 69 in the world rankings, boasts four WTA titles and made it to the semifinal of the Wimbledon Championships in 2024 and the quarterfinal of the Australian Open in 2023 and the US Open in 2019.

But more than that, she is on the provisional list of 32-woman competitors that will see action in the Philippine Women’s Open on 26 January at the newly-refurbished Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.

Should Eala get past Vekic, she will face the winner between Croatian netter Petra Marcinko and Camila Osorio of Colombia.

If ever Eala makes a deep run in the singles event, she might found herself facing the Williams anew, making their rematch much-anticipated due to the interesting storylines between the past and the future of women’s professional tennis circuit.