Alex Eala’s ambitious bid in the tournament dubbed as the Fifth Grand Slam gets severely tested Sunday (Monday in Manila) when she battles world No. 4 Coco Gauff in the Round of 32 of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells in California.

It will be a huge game for Eala as she attempts to get even with her one-time doubles partner following their encounter in the Dubai Tennis Championships last month in the United Arab Emirates.

In that clash, Gauff, a two-time Grand Slam winner, easily disposed of Eala, now rated No. 31, in straight sets, 6-0, 6-2.

Eala, a product of the Rafael Nadal Academy in Spain, made an auspicious debut in the Women Tennis Association 1000 event after downing world No. 52 Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine, 7-5, 4-6, 7-5, in their Round of 64 showdown before a sizable Filipino crowd.

Eala was thankful for the fans who stayed up at night to watch her notch her first victory.

“It means the world to have this community behind me in such a prestigious tournament, and for them to make the effort to stay up late and stay in the cold to cheer me on. It really added to the feelings and the emotions after the match,” Eala said.

“Playing at night is also a good sign. You adjust, and I’m just happy that I got one today.”

Sadly, Eala wasn’t able to sustain her momentum in the women’s doubles as she and world No. 20 Iva Jovic of the United States were swept by No. 43 Hailey Baptiste and No. 26 Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia in the Round of 32 on Saturday.

But all eyes will be on Eala as she eyes an upset against Gauff.

Instead of being intimidated, Eala is pumped up to face her once again on her home turf.

“I’m excited. Like I said the other day when you asked me, it was a tough match for me last time. I think she played really well. All I can do is take the learnings that I have from our last match and try to implement that in our next one,” Eala said.

But pulling the rug under from Gauff will be easier said than done.

Like Eala, Gauff earned a bye in the tournament and swept past world No. 88 Kamilla Rakhimova of Uzbekistan, 6-3, 7-6, to advance to the Last 32.

The 21-year-old Gauff feels she has a good chance in repeating over Eala.

“I think I’m pretty confident in my return, so I feel like I know I’m always going to get one of the two return points almost on every swing,” Gauff said.

“After that, it’s just more so my serve. Also, I think fitness-wise, obviously tiebreakers are usually later in the match, so I think I’m able to just get that extra ball back, be mentally there.”

The winner will face either world No. 38 Sorana Cirstea of Romania or No. 14 Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic in the Last 16.