SWINGING right back to action after her WTA 125 Birmingham Open conquest, Filipino sensation Alexandra “Alex” Eala seeks a rematch against Iva Jovic at the 500 HSBC Championships slated from June 8 to June 14 in London, England.
Close friends on the Tour, world No. 33 Eala and No. 19 Jovic are favored to win their opening matches (round of 32), giving them a good chance to meet again after the just concluded Roland Garros.
The 21-year-old Eala fell to the 18-year-old Jovic in their French Open first round encounter, 4-6, 2-6, on May 26.
In this London meet, Eala faces Chinese and world No. 64 Shuai Zhang either Tuesday or Wednesday.
On the other hand, Jovic battles Croatian and world No. 58 Antonia Ruzic.
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The order of play for Tuesday’s matches wasn’t available yet at press time.
Eala aims to extend her winning run to six matches after a perfect run in Birmingham, where she defeated Czech Nikola Bartunkova in the final, 5-7, 6-3, 7-5, for her first professional grass-court title.
That ended the “Czech Curse” for Eala who finally beat a player from the Czech Republic in her 14th attempt.
“I’m so honored to be lifting this trophy today. But lifting this trophy does not mean I will be among the greats yet, so I’m motivated to keep working and I’m grateful for the part that this trophy has played in this journey,” said Eala in the post-match interview.
Eala bagged $33,650 or P2 million in prize money for her Birmingham conquest which also boosted her ranking from No. 37 to 33 with a total of 1,416 points.
The leap gave Eala a good chance of getting seeded at the Wimbledon set June 29 to July 12.
Only the top 32 players get a seed in the draw with the seeding cutoff set on June 22, one week before the tournament.
Eala needs enough points to rise and stay in the top 32 to get a seed in Wimbledon which merits a favorable draw in the first two rounds — facing lower-ranked players who are either qualifiers or wildcard entrants instead of early tests against fellow seeded players.
