Eala takes on good pal Jovic at start of French Open campaign

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 official draw via YouTube live in the 2026 French Open Friday.

It will be the first encounter for Eala, WTA No. 38, and Jovic, WTA No. 17, in the singles after teaming up in two doubles tournaments this year.

The main draw of the French Open kicks off on 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 Saturday, gets a baptism of fire against the in-form Jovic, who has been 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 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 the United States’ Hailey Baptiste. But they scored one of the biggest upsets in the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand last January against the then World No. 9 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine and 21-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams of the US, 7-6 (9-7), 6-1, to reach the Final Four.

They then bowed to the third-ranked Chinese tandem of Xu Yifan and Yang Zhaoxuan, 7-5, 6-3, to fall just short from a finale stint, before going separate ways in their singles career.

In Paris, they will meet again with a promise of setting their friendship aside in the meantime.

Eala will march on to Paris with a roller-coaster build-up so far after early exits in the Upper Austria Ladies Linz Open in Austria (second round), the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany (first round) and the Mutua Madrid Open (second round) with a third-round finish in the Italian Open serving as her only breakthrough run so far.

The Italian Open was her first deep run in any clay campaign ever.

Eala will also play in the doubles division of the Roland Garros with World No. 9 Victoria Mboko of Canada.