Alex Eala is gearing up for a rematch against Grand Slam champion Coco Gauff after a thrilling three-set win over Dayana Yastremska on her Indian Wells debut.
World No 32 Eala battled late into the night against former Australian Open semi-finalist Yastremska, with the Ukrainian serving for the match deep into the deciding set.
However, the Filipina was able to turn the match in her favour, taking advantage of a late string of double faults from her opponent to win the final three games of the match and claim a 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 victory.
Triumph for Eala saw her pick up her first-ever win in Indian Wells, with 2026 marking her tournament debut in Tennis Paradise.
However, the 20-year-old now faces one of the toughest tests in tennis in the form of world No 4 Gauff in the third round.
Gauff defeated Kamilla Rakhimova to get her campaign underway at the WTA 1000 event on Friday, and dropped just two games when she defeated Eala at the Dubai Tennis Championships last month.
Just weeks on from that encounter, Eala is gearing up for the chance to once again test herself against the reigning French Open champion.
“No, I’m excited, like I said the other day when you asked me,” said Eala.
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“It was a tough match for me last time. I think she played really well. So all I can do is take the learnings that I have from our last match and try to implement that in our next one, yeah.”
Eala has plenty of fan support wherever she plays and is usually the crowd favourite, including when she faced off against Gauff in Dubai last month.
However, the tables will likely turn in Indian Wells, with American star Gauff likely to have the bulk of her home crowd behind her.
Despite that, Eala does not feel that she will be intimidated by the occasion.
She added: “Well, it’s not my first huge match. I think it’s definitely going to be a tough one. Coco is an amazing player and playing at home. I’m expecting, you know, a big crowd to rally behind her just because she’s amazing.
“But it’s like every other match. You know, today I had to dig really deep, so I’m expecting that the next match I have to do even more, you know. So I’m ready, and I’m looking forward to it, yeah.”
After her thrilling win over Yastremska in round two, the world No 32 is provisionally up four places to 28th in the WTA Live Rankings.
That takes her above her previous career-high of 31st in the WTA Rankings, and means that she could make her top-30 debut when the rankings officially update post-tournament.
A top-30 debut is not yet secured for Eala, however, with several rankings rivals still also battling out in Tennis Paradise.
The Filipina will face off against Gauff at some point on Sunday, and the winner will then face either Sorana Cirstea or 14th seed Linda Noskova in the fourth round.
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