- Alex Eala faces Belgium’s Elise Mertens in the round of 32 of the WTA 500 Bad Homburg Open in Germany.
Bad Homburg Open schedule
June 23, Tuesday
- 12:30 a.m. – Alex Eala vs Elise Mertens
LIVE: Alex Eala vs Elise Mertens
- Eala ace, trims Mertens’ lead, 4-2
- Mertens ace, 4-1.
- Mertens double fault. Eala break point, 40-30
- Eala return winner, 30-15
- Mertens double fault, 15-15
- Eala stops the bleeding, ends Mertens’ eight-game run.
- Eala double fault. 40-15
- Mertens out. Eala 40-0
- Eala 30-0
- Mertens serves to love for commanding 3-0 lead.
- Eala error. Mertens breaks, leads 2-0.
- Mertens break point, 40-30.
- Mertens with another ace for a 1-0 lead in the second set.
- Mertens ace, Eala out. Mertens advantage
- Eala break point, 40-30
Out in front 💪
Elise Mertens comes from a break down in the opening set against Eala to take it 6-3!#BHO26 pic.twitter.com/WLTsS5RIaq
— wta (@WTA) June 22, 2026
- Mertens had 5 aces, 18 winners against 13 errors in the first set.
- Mertens comes back from 3-1 down to take the opening set, 6-3.
- Mertens fourth set point.
- Eala service winner, 30-15
- Mertens ace to extend the lead, 5-3.
- Mertens ace, 30-30
- Eala costly error. Mertens takes the lead, 4-3.
- Mertens break point, 40-30
- Mertens quickly ties it up at 3-3.
- Mertens breaks back. Eala still up, 3-2.
Pure quality 👏
Alex Eala started on the front foot against Mertens in Bad Homburg!#BHO26 pic.twitter.com/aahZvrDC66
— wta (@WTA) June 22, 2026
- Eala gets the first break of the match, 3-1
- Mertens short. Eala break point, 40-30
- Eala holds, leads, 2-1.
- Mertens easily levels the match at 1-1.
- Mertens back-to-back aces, 40-15.
- Eala ace, hangs on to hold serve, 1-0.
FILE – Alex Eala celebrates after a match in the Berlin Open. She beat Elena Rybakina and Elina Svitolina to reach the semifinals. –BERLIN OPEN PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines–Alex Eala returned to the top 30 in the WTA rankings ahead of her debut at the Bad Homburg Open on Monday.
Eala jumped five spots to world No. 30 following a blistering campaign in the WTA 500 Berlin Open, where she reached the semifinals. She moved just a spot shy of matching her career-high ranking of No. 29 last March.
The 21-year-old Eala looks to continue her giant-slaying ways starting against former world No. 12 Elise Mertens of Belgium in the round of 32 late Monday night.
Alex Eala —WTA PHOTO
Alex Eala’s most memorable 2026 WTA run ended on Sunday morning in Manila when the Czech Linda Noskova needed just 69 minutes to bundle out the hard-fighting pride of the Philippines in the semifinals of the Berlin Open.
And that leaves the 21-year-old setting her sights on another WTA 500 event starting Monday when she battles Elise Mertens in the round-of-32 of the Bad Homburg Open at the Spielbank Bad Homburg Centre Court.
There will be no shortage of giants to chop down in Homburg in Germany, with former world No. 1 Iga Swiatek of Poland and newly crowned French Open champion Meera Andreeva ranked 1-2 in the event and where Eala will get a chance of facing Noskova again after taking a 6-2, 6-4 defeat in Berlin.
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