Serena stands in Eala’s way

MANILA, Philippines — After teaming up with Venus Williams, Alex Eala this time may cross paths against another legend in Serena Williams at Wimbledon starting on Monday in London.

The road to an elusive Grand Slam breakthrough for Eala could possibly go through a loaded bracket of greats, current stars and rising ones, including the former world No. 1 and 23-time Grand Slam champion Williams in Round 2.

Williams, coming out of retirement at 44 to play in a Grand Slam for the first time since her US Open stint in 2022, is in for a tall order against rising star Maya Joint of Australia.

The 20-year-old Joint, WTA No. 53, is the tormentor of Eala in 2025.

The trek to the summit then gets steeper from there with world No. 3 Iga Swiatek, No. 14 Jasmine Paolini, No. 8 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine projected to stand in the way of Eala from the third round to the quarterfinals.

Meanwhile, fourth seed Karolina Muchova won the Wimbledon warm-up tournament at Bad Homburg, Germany after Naomi Osaka withdrew with an ankle injury.

In the first grass court final of her career, the four-time Grand Slam winner Osaka was troubled by the injury and lost the opening set 6-1, having taken a short break for treatment after losing the first three games.