Alex Eala made a captivating introduction at Indian Wells on Friday (Saturday in Manila) after slipping past world No. 52 Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine, 7-5, 4-6, 7-5, in their Round of 65 duel before a sizable Filipino crowd in the BNP Paribas Open.
After earning a bye as the 31st seed in what is considered the “fifth Grand Slam,” the Rafael Nadal Academy alumna still needed two hours and 43 minutes to get the job done in style.
Not only did Eala repeat over the 25-year-old Yastremska, who she defeated last June in the Eastbourne Open, but it also set her up for a blockbuster rematch with world No. 4 Coco Gauff in the Round of 32 in this prestigious Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) 1000 tournament.
Both Eala and Gauff last faced off in the quarterfinal of the Dubai Tennis Championships in February, where American won handily, 6-0, 6-2.
For Eala, she is excited to share the court again with Gauff, who boasts two Grand Slam titles.
“No, 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,” Eala said in a post-match press conference.
“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 knows she will have to dig deep once more like she did against Yastremska if she wants a chance at getting even with Gauff.
“But it’s like every other match. You know, today I had to dig really deep, so I’m expecting that in the next match I have to do even more, you know. I’m ready, and I’m looking forward to it,” Eala said.
Should Eala pull off the upset, Gauff will be the fourth Top 10 player she will beat after Madison Keys of the United States (No. 5), Jasmine Paolini of Italy (No. 7) and Iga Swiatek of Poland (No. 2).
By just advancing to the Round of 32, Eala already secured $61,865 or roughly P3.6 million and is projected to be at No. 28 according to the WTA live rankings.
Beating Gauff would earn her $105,720 or P6.2 million if she makes it to the Last 16 and her WTA rank could soar higher.
Eala will have only a few hours to rest up as she and world No. 20 Iva Jovic of the United States is competing in the Round of 32 of the doubles against No. 43 Hailey Baptiste and No. 26 Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia.
A win will have Eala and Jovic take on world No. 8 Mirra Andreeva of Russia and No. 10 Victoria Mboko of Canada in the Last 16.