By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
The real battle on the grass court begins on Tuesday, June 30, with Filipina ace Alex Eala looking to use her early success as her extra motivation when she opens her Wimbledon campaign against a familiar rival in Renata Zarazua.
Match is scheduled not before 8:50 p.m. (Philippine time), with the 21-year-old Filipina playing her first Grand Slam as a seeded player after earning the No. 29 spot.
The match will just be the second meeting between Eala and Zarazua, a 28-year-old Mexican ranked No. 75 in the WTA.
Their previous encounter came in the quarterfinals of the ITF W100 Cary tournament in the United States in 2024, where Zarazua rallied past Eala in three sets.
Although Zarazua’s career-high ranking of No. 51 is below Eala’s career-best No. 29, the Mexican brings plenty of experience, highlighted by three WTA Challenger singles titles.
One reason why Eala is feeling good this time is that she did well in her buildup to the third Grand Slam event of the year, having captured her second WTA Tour title at the Birmingham Classic earlier this month. She followed it up with a semifinal run at the Berlin Open before bowing out in the opening round at Bad Homburg.
A victory over Zarazua would send Eala into the second round against the winner of the match between former world No. 1 Serena Williams, who recently came out of retirement, and Australia’s Maya Joint.
Every Filipino tennis lover is hoping Eala and Williams will hurdle their first round assignments so they play each other next in what could be another historic first for the charming Filipina ace.
Eala landed in the same bracket with five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek and Jasmine Paolini — two top players the Filipina has previously beaten.
Apart from the singles, Eala is also playing in the doubles with Nikola Bartunkova, where they are in an early tough match against veterans Jelena Ostapenko and Sofia Kenin.
Ostapenko boasts of a US Open doubles crown in 2024, while Kenin reached her second Grand Slam doubles quarterfinals appearance at last year’s Wimbledon.
