IT is just the third round of the 2026 Wimbledon Open but Filipino tennis sensation Alex Eala will be playing the biggest match of her young career on Saturday (Manila time) at the All England Lawn Tennis Club in England.
Eala, ranked 32nd in the world, will take on a familiar but formidable foe in Iga Swiatek of Poland, the defending champion and No. 3 player in the Women’s Tennis Association Tour.Eala came from a grueling 3-6, 6-2, 6-0 victory against Maya Joint of Australia on Thursday night to earn the right to face Swiatek in the round of 32.
The Filipina capped the match with a 6-0 third-set win which, she said, did not reflect how tough it was since the match had a total of 12 deuces before it concluded.
The win also gave Eala the gratification of getting even with Joint, who defeated her in the final of the 2025 Eastbourne Open via a super tiebreak.“Yeah, it's funny. So, for those who don't know, we had an insane match last year at Eastbourne, and I lost, and it hit me quite hard. I cried a lot, and I don't think I was able to watch those highlights for a couple of months,” Eala said after the match.
Swiatek, meanwhile, emerged victorious in the second round via a straight sets win over Karolína Plískova of Czechia, 6-3, 6-4.
In their first meeting at the 2025 Miami Open (hardcourt), Eala, who entered as a wildcard, pulled a major upset in the quarterfinals against Swiatek, 6-2, 7-5.
On Saturday, they will meet on grass surface in a Grand Slam event.
“I don’t know her game on grass particularly, but I know how she plays because we’ve already played and she has a tricky game, so I can assume that on grass it’s even trickier because of the surface,” Swiatek said.
“So I will prepare, and I’ll be ready, but it would be a good challenge for me. So I will need to be ready for different kinds of shots.”
Eala, reached a career-high of No. 29 in the WTA Tour rankings while Swiatek was No. 1 for 125 weeks. The defending champ first ascended to the top spot in April 2022 when she was 20 years old.
