Eala opens Indian Wells bid vs Ukraine’s Yastremska

Alex Eala

(STAR / Russell Palma)

MANILA, Philippines — Alex Eala will face a familiar foe in Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine after the latter’s victory in the qualifiers to arrange a Round 2 duel in the 2026 Indian Wells Open (BNP Paribas) main draw this weekend in California, United States.

Yastremska, WTA No. 52, swept No. 62 Shuai Zhang of China, 6-3, 6-2, in the opening round on Thursday to earn a shot at the WTA No. 32 Eala, who gained a bye.

The match is set Friday at still-to-be-determined game time and court assignment as they figure in their second encounter after the 20-year-old Filipina drubbed Yastremska, 25, in the quarterfinals of the Eastbourne Open, 6-1, 6-2.

Eala went on to advance all the way to the finals of that grass tourney to become the first-ever Filipina WTA finalist only to fall short against Maya Joint of Australia, 4-6, 6-1, 6-7(10-12).

Expectations are high for Eala to repeat over Yastremska to arrange a second-round duel against either her good friend Coco Gauff (WTA No. 4) of the United States or Kamilla Rakhimova of Uzbekistan (WTA No. 88).

Gauff is just one of the big guns Eala is hoping to get a shot at in the 1000-level tour alongside World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, No. 2 Iga Swiatek of Poland and No. 3 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, reigning champion Mirra Andreeva of Russia (No. 8), who stunned Sabalenka in the Indian Wells final last year, and Jessica Pegula (No. 5) of the US.

Eala will wage battle in California brimming with confidence after a quarterfinal finish in the equally elite WTA1000 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships last week.

She’s also tipped to enjoy another home court advantage in California, which boasts the biggest population of Filipinos at around two million.

Aside from the singles, Eala will also strut her stuff in the doubles, where she reached a career-best ranking of No. 99, with American partner and fellow rising star Iva Jovic of the US, WTA No. 18.

Eala and Jovic, who made it to the semifinals of the ASB Classic in Auckland earlier this year marked by a stunner over World No. 9 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine and 21-time Grand Slam champion Venues Williams of the US — drew the pair of Amercian Hailey Baptiste of and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia in Round 1.

Baptiste is WTA No. 43 while the two-time Grand Slam champion Ostapenko sits at No. 26, a known doubles specialist at World No. 12 with career-best placing at No. 3.

Ostapenko was one of the three former Slam champions (alongside Swiatek and American Madison Keys) Eala had beaten last year on her way to a magical Final Four run and Top-100 entry in the Miami Open, where she’ll return after the Indian Wells from March 17-29.

Eala’s bid to enter the Top 30 will depend on the two 1000-level tours before entering the clay season starting with the French Open by the summer.