By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
This is the showdown everyone is looking to happen while their careers are still peaking. It’s a duel between Alex Eala and Leylah Fernandez – the former is a true-blooded Filipino while the latter is a Canadian of a Filipino a descent.
Both players, however, are lefties, so that makes their opening round clash at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany on Monday, April 13, more interesting.
Match is set not before 4 p.m. (Philippine time) with Eala and Fernandez clashing for the first time.
Eala was initially slated to compete in the qualifying rounds, but got lucky to make to the main draw outright following Zheng Qinwen’s withdrawal due to injury.
Eala and Fernandez have already crossed paths off the court, with Fernandez once describing the 20-year-old Eala as a “sweet girl, and amazing person.”
“When I see her, we always talk a little bit. It helps that we are around the same age,” Fernandez, 23, mentioned in a previous interview last year.
But expect this on-court collision to be all business as Eala looks to bounce back from a second-round loss to Grand Slam champion Jelena Ostapenko at the Linz Open in Austria last week.
Fernandez, whose maternal grandparents hail from Leyte and Ilocos Norte, for her part, last saw action at the Charleston Open two weeks ago, where she also exited in the second round after a straight-sets loss to Diana Schnaider.
On paper, Fernandez brings a wealth of experience, highlighted by a runner-up finish to Emma Raducanu at the 2021 US Open. She has also won five Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) singles titles and is currently ranked No. 25 in the world.
The world No. 46-ranked Eala, meanwhile, won her breakthrough WTA crown at the Guadalajara Open last year.
Both Eala and Fernandez landed in the star-studded half of the draw that features Jasmine Paolini, Iga Swiatek, Mirra Andreeva and top seed Elena Rybakina.
The Stuttgart tournament serves as Eala’s build-up for the WTA1000 Mutua Madrid Open, as well as the Roland Garros next month.
