Alex Eala begins campaign, faces Colombian in French Open

 

Filipina tennis prodigy ‘Alex’ Eala. (Photo from Tennis.com)

Now at number 69 in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA)’s world ranking, Filipina tennis sensation Alexandra’ Alex’ Eala is set to face Colombian ace Emiliana Arango in the main draw of her Grand Slam campaign at the 2025 French Open staged at the Stade Roland Garros in the French capital. 

Still young at 20 years now on celebrating her birthday yesterday (May 23), Eala made waves after her historic 2025 Miami Open run, where she defeated three Grand Slam champions in Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, Madison Keys of the United States and Iga Swiatek of Poland. 

Poised to challenge the Filipina upstart is the right-handed Arango, 24, who is currently ranked 88th and had a career-high as World No. 79. She also has won three singles titles on the ITF Circuit. 

In case she is defeated by Eala in the tourney’s opening salvo, there’s a possibility the Filipina hopeful will face China’s Qinwen Zheng, which will be a potential rematch of the 2023 Asian Games women’s tennis singles semifinals where Eala lost against the Chinese standout.

Meanwhile, Swiatek, who dropped the world’s number 5, is defending her French Open crown. She faces a difficult route to a fourth successive Roland Garros title after a year-long trophy drought.

The Polish netter is in the same quarter as 2024 finalist Jasmine Paolini, former champion Jelena Ostapenko and 2022 Wimbledon winner Elena Rybakina. She plays Slovakian Rebecca Sramkova in the first round before a possible meeting with Britain’s Emma Raducanu.