{"id":2581,"date":"2026-08-03T11:45:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T11:45:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/?p=2581"},"modified":"2026-08-03T11:45:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T11:45:17","slug":"washington-dc-open-jessica-pegula-reveals-what-is-so-tricky-about-playing-alex-eala","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/?p=2581","title":{"rendered":"Washington DC Open: Jessica Pegula reveals what is \u2018so tricky\u2019\u00a0about playing Alex Eala"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jessica Pegula<\/a> has revealed what makes Alex Eala\u2019s serve \u201ctricky\u201d to deal with as she also addressed the \u201ccrazy\u201d support the Filipina star receives.<\/p>\n

Pegula and Eala are competing in the championship match at the Mubadala DC Open, a WTA 500 tournament in Washington DC.<\/p>\n

World No 3 Pegula<\/a> was leading 6-4, 1-2 in the final against 28th-ranked Eala on Sunday when play was suspended due to rain in the United States capital. The match is set to resume on Monday.<\/p>\n

In the pair\u2019s only previous meeting, Pegula defeated Eala<\/a> 7-6(3), 5-7, 6-3 in the semi-finals at the 2025 Miami Open.<\/p>\n

After her semi-final win against Diana Shnaider in Washington, Pegula was asked about Eala\u2019s serve.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, I think her serve has gotten a little bit better since when I last played her. I know it\u2019s something she\u2019s working on, of course,\u201d the 32-year-old American said in her press conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne, I think it helps that she\u2019s a lefty. I think lefties are definitely \u2014 no offense to lefties, but they can get away with a little bit more, because we\u2019re just not used to seeing the ball come that direction as often, and I think you see that with a lot of different lefties on tour.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, [Adrian] Mannarino, I feel like he just kind of like throws it in there. He can still hit his serve, but throws it in there. I\u2019m not sure if a person that\u2019s right-handed would be able to get away with it that much. So I do think they can use that to their advantage.<\/p>\n

WTA Tour News<\/h2>\n

Alex Eala makes admission after clinching rankings milestone at Washington DC Open<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

What Alex Eala had to say about her serve after Grand Slam winner claimed \u2018it\u2019s holding her back\u2019<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Want more from Tennis365? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for tennis coverage you can trust.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI think with her, it stays so low. It\u2019s hard to attack. I think if you put her \u2014 it would be interesting if she plays mixed doubles. I don\u2019t think guys are going to like returning her serve. There\u2019s no space to actually do anything with it. Sometimes you feel like you\u2019re just starting the point.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember in Miami, I just didn\u2019t know, should I go for it more, because then I feel like I\u2019m possibly giving her free points off of that serve, or do I kind of just start the point? You really have to use your legs and kind of get up and trust it.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, that\u2019s why it can be so tricky. It stays very low, especially on more of a hard court, which I think she\u2019s probably better on a hard court or grass court where it\u2019s very hard to attack.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, the ball is kind of below the net, and you\u2019re having to hit up on the ball. Any time you have to do that, it can be really tricky.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pegula later discussed Eala\u2019s remarkable following from her fans from the Philippines.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s crazy. There\u2019s people out there all waiting for her. I mean, I think it\u2019s awesome for the sport. I think it\u2019s really cool. I think we\u2019ve seen that similar to [Joao] Fonseca,\u201d said Pegula.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s amazing she\u2019s able to draw these crowds, and it\u2019s not even like she\u2019s the No. 1 seed yet or like a top-5 player, and she\u2019s able to bring all these people in to watch her matches.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve seen it at all the tournaments we\u2019ve been at this year. She\u2019s usually on a bigger court, because they have to put her on a bigger court. Usually you hear the crowd from every single court that you\u2019re on around her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember in Dubai I could hear it from my hotel room, because it\u2019s very close to the courts there. So I think it\u2019s awesome. Any way to get people into tennis.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember when we had her on our podcast, we had so many Filipino fans and the one girl, Des Krawczyk, is also half-Filipino, and they were, like, Oh, my God, Des is Filipino. Then she got all of these followers because they were Filipino fans.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s really cool when you can outreach a group of people, especially that might not be super into tennis. I think it\u2019s really neat.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be tough. I remember in Miami. This was, like, before she was really, like, people knew her as much. I\u2019m assuming tomorrow it\u2019s probably going to be worse. I don\u2019t know if there\u2019s more Filipino here compared to Miami, but Miami I was just, like, who are these people? What is going on?<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m an American. I\u2019m in Miami Open. We\u2019re in the semis. I live in South Florida. I was just, like, where are these people coming from? Like, I don\u2019t understand. I was just so confused.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow obviously looking back, it\u2019s gotten even crazier, and it makes complete sense now. But I just remember being in that match and just being, like, where did all of these fans come from? I don\u2019t understand what\u2019s happening. Now it\u2019s, like, every week it seems to be like that.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is what it is. I\u2019ll do my best. Hopefully I can still get some American fans behind me.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ NEXT: Jessica Pegula says \u2018no other sport\u2019 would accept controversial tennis issue<\/a>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Washington DC Open: Jessica Pegula reveals what is \u2018so tricky\u2019\u00a0about playing Alex Eala<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jessica Pegula has revealed what makes Alex Eala\u2019s serve \u201ctricky\u201d to deal with as she also addressed the \u201ccrazy\u201d support the Filipina star receives. Pegula and Eala are competing in the championship match at the Mubadala DC Open, a WTA 500 tournament in Washington DC. World No 3 Pegula was leading 6-4, 1-2 in the […]<\/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-2581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2581","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=2581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2581\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}