Alex Eala has booked a re-match with defending champion Iga Swiatek after she moved into the third round at Wimbledon \u2013 and former British No 1 Greg Rusedski has suggested her run may not stop here.<\/p>\n
Eala\u2019s win against Maya Joint secured her passage to the last-32 at a Grand Slam for the first time, with the Filipina\u2019s confidence growing after a grass court season that saw her lift the title at the Birmingham Open and enjoy a strong run at the WTA 500 tournament in Berlin.<\/p>\n
Now Rusedski is backing Eala<\/a> to test Swiatek<\/a>, who looked vulnerable and emotional in her opening match against Taylor Townsend.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a little bit of a toss-up right now. This match is hard to call,\u201d said Rusedski on his podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n Iga Swiatek responds when asked how she feels about having to play Alex Eala at Wimbledon<\/a><\/p>\n Why Wimbledon is Alex Eala\u2019s best chance for a deep run at a Grand Slam<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI love those 50-50 matchups and we know probably where the crowd\u2019s gonna be with because Eala is just about the most popular player in women\u2019s tennis.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is gonna be one of the hottest tickets in the women\u2019s draw this third round matchup.<\/p>\n \u201cEala is coming in on the back of good form. She won a title leading in and that gives you lots of confidence.<\/p>\n \u201cShe also beat today the player that beat a certain Serena Williams in the first round to get here. It took her three sets, but after losing an opening set. So that is impressive. She managed the nerves, pushed through.<\/p>\n \u201cNow she is into the third round where she plays Iga Swiatek, somebody who she\u2019s practiced with a lot at the Rafael Nadal Academy. So they each know each other\u2019s game very, very well. And she\u2019s beaten Swiatek as well. This is her best surface. So I think this match could go either way.\u201d<\/p>\n Rusedski went on to salute Eala\u2019s focus and dedication to the game, as he suggested her team will ease her rise to the top.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I like about her is she\u2019s putting in the work,\u201d he added. \u201cShe\u2019s got a great coach behind her. She\u2019s got a good team of people.<\/p>\n \u201cAlso, she\u2019s got confidence. When you beat Elena Rybakina and Elana Svitolina (in Berlin), that gives you a lot of self-belief. So she\u2019s on a little bit of a roll right now, you know, and I like the way she can swing or serve, and use the court to her advantage as well.<\/p>\n \u201cThe ball stays exactly the right height for her. So it\u2019s going to be interesting to see in this third-round match.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m assuming this has got to be a Centre Court match-up just because it\u2019s gonna be the match-up we all want to see. And I kind of feel like right now is a little bit of distance, destiny possibly for her, because if she was to beat Swiatek, that would be a huge statement.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTo make her first fourth round of a major. This is the furthest she\u2019s been so far. But for Swiatek, on the other hand, it\u2019s like, okay, look, I\u2019m getting my redemption back.<\/p>\n \u201cI haven\u2019t been where I\u2019ve wanted to be on the court. The results didn\u2019t happen after changing coaches with Francisco Roig at the French Open. And now all of a sudden, maybe it\u2019s the time she steps up. So that\u2019s why this is so intriguing.\u201d<\/p>\n READ NEXT: Wimbledon: Alex Eala\u2019s full press conference after latest win as she looks ahead to Iga Swiatek match<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The post Alex Eala v Iga Swiatek: Former British No 1 gives his verdict on Wimbledon showdown<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Alex Eala has booked a re-match with defending champion Iga Swiatek after she moved into the third round at Wimbledon \u2013 and former British No 1 Greg Rusedski has suggested her run may not stop here. Eala\u2019s win against Maya Joint secured her passage to the last-32 at a Grand Slam for the first time, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2430\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}More Tennis News<\/h2>\n