MANILA, Philippines — From friends and teammates to rivals.
Alex Eala’s Paris journey will begin with a duel against her good pal Iva Jovic of the United States after the announcement of the official draw for the 2026 French Open yesterday.
It will be the first encounter for Eala, WTA No. 38, and Jovic, WTA No. 17, in singles after teaming up in two doubles tournaments this year.
The main draw of the French Open kicks off Monday (Manila time) after the ongoing qualifying rounds as Eala gets a full week of preparation after a stunning early exit in the WTA500 outside Paris against qualifier and WTA No. 66 Oleksandra Oliynykova of Ukraine, 6-3, 5-7, 3-6.
And Eala, who will celebrate her 21st birthday today, gets a baptism of fire against the in-form Jovic, one of the fast-rising stars in the world today by barging inside the Top 20 at only 18 years of age. Eala’s career-best was at No. 29.
Both these two young stars have spent some time off the court this season, especially after a productive campaign as partners in two different high-level tournaments.
Eala and Jovic exited early in the Indian Wells in California last March with a 6-2, 6-2 sweep against Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko and USA’s Hailey Baptiste but scored one of the biggest upsets in the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand last January against then world No. 9 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine (now No. 7) and 21-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams of USA, 7-6 (9-7), 6-1, to reach the Final Four.