Eala faces Fernandez anew in French Open doubles

BIRTHDAY girl Alexandra “Alex” Eala will have another shot at Filipina-Canadian ace Leylah Fernandez, locking horns once more in the doubles tournament of the 2026 French Open kicking off on Monday in Paris.

Ms. Eala, who celebrated her 21^st birthday on Saturday with tennis friends including her upcoming singles opponent Iva Jovic of the United States, drew Ms. Fernandez and Diana Shnaider of Russia after the official draw on Sunday.

The Filipina tennis pride, world No. 38 in singles, has WTA No. 9 Victoria Mboko of Canada as her teammate for the first time ever in a bid to also make a mark in the doubles of the Roland Garros, the season’s second Grand Slam, on top of their respective singles campaign.

Ms. Eala, No. 115 in the doubles, and Ms. Mboko, No. 132, fare lower compared to the grizzled doubles specialist Ms. Shnaider, who is at world No. 18, alongside Ms. Fernandez at No. 81.

Ms. Shnaider is also No. 23 in singles while Ms. Fernandez is just behind her at No. 24, making it a tough draw for the Filipina-Canadian tandem at a still-to-be-determined game schedule at the sidelines of the singles.

Ms. Eala bowed to Ms. Fernandez, whose mother traces her roots in the Philippines, in the first round of the WTA 500 Porsche Grand Prix singles in Stuttgart, Germany, 6-1, 6-4. Ms. Eala though scored a win in the WTA 500 Abu Dhabi Open Round of 16 with Indonesian partner Janice Tjen against Ms. Fernandez and nine-time Grand Slam champion Kristina Mladenovic of France 7-5, 3-6, 10-6.

But first things first for Ms. Eala, who is tipped to slug it out against one of her closest tennis friends Ms. Jovic in Round 1 of the singles play on Monday.

This will be the first encounter for Mses. Eala and Jovic after a productive campaign as doubles teammates in two tournaments earlier this year.

Not even an impending war between the two, however, could hinder their personal relationship off the court as Ms. Jovic, Eva Lys of Germany, Zeynep Sonmez of Turkey and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine even trained with Ms. Eala on court and pulled off a simple present.

The quartet gifted Ms. Eala a cake on training court at Roland Garros before they hung out for a simple evening dinner later.

“Happy Alexita Day,” said Ms. Sonmez on her Instagram story with a photo of the company around the City of Love. — John Bryan Ulanday