THE country’s undisputed sports star, Alex Eala, will make a return to Centre Court of Wimbledon on Monday night (around 8:30 p.m. Manila time) when she takes on Italy’s Jasmine Paolini with a place in the quarterfinals at stake.
Eala made her debut on this hallowed court last Saturday. While it may naturally unsettle first-timers on this most hallowed of tennis grounds, she rose to the occasion.
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She dismantled the formidable Iga Swiatek in straight sets, 7-6 (9), 6-2, to earn a fourth-round encounter with the plucky Paolini who got into the Last 16 by beating Maria Sakkari.
Eala holds a 1-0 record against the Italian whom she beat in the second round of the Dubai Tennis Championships, 6-1, 7-6, last February.
In this meeting, Paolini is again ranked much higher at world No. 17 against Eala’s No. 32. Paolini is also seeded 13th here and Eala 29th.
Top seeds tumble out
But at Wimbledon, rankings sometimes hardly matter as shown by the seeds that have littered the grass courts over the past week, one of them belonging to the No. 3 seed and defending champion Swiatek.
The latest to join the departed is world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka who was dispatched by Naomi Osaka in their third-round encounter on Sunday night.
With Sabalenka’s defeat, the highest seeded player remaining is Jessica Pegula at No. 4. Also still in the mix is Coco Gauf at No. 7. Both are in the upper half of the draw.
Which means that if Eala, in the lower half, continues her progress, she would not meet any of them until the semifinals or finals. But before that, Eala will first have to take care of present business, which is Paolini.
"I think she’s a great player. She is a great fighter especially it was not an easy match in Dubai for me. It will not be an easy match here either," said Eala.
"But then again, every match is a different story. So, I’m gonna do my best to prepare for that one and you know, focus all my energy in trying to improve and do better."
For her part, Paolini said: "I know I'm gonna play Eala. I saw a little bit of the last game. I think the game of Eala suits very well to grass. She showed a great level (of play) in Berlin. I think she's a very dangerous player here.
"Let's see how we're going to prepare for the match. I played her already in Dubai this year. I think it's going to be the tough one the next because I think she can play really well here."
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