Alex Eala is all set for the rematch with tennis giant, home bet Gauff

“I’M READY.”

Those are the fighting words of heavy underdog Filipina Alexandra “Alex” Eala as she plunges into the jaws of another tennis giant in home bet Coco Gauff in the duel between two crowd darlings in Round 3 of the Indian Wells Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden on Monday in California.

The rematch is set at 9 a.m. (Manila time) at the Stadium 1 — the second largest tennis stadium in the world next only to the Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York (US Open) — billed as one of highly-anticipated matches before an expected crowd of 16,000.

Winner gets to face either WTA No. 38 Sorana Cirstea of Romania or world No. 14 Linda Noskova of Czechia for a seat in the Round of 16.

From rankings to experience albeit at both young ages, the 21-year-old Ms. Gauff, WTA No. 4 with three Grand Slams under her belt, could run laps around the 20-year-old Pinay, WTA No. 32 and with a single title thus far (WTA 125).

But while it’s seen as a duel of wit and grit, Ms. Eala — thousands of miles away from home and Ms. Gauff from Florida, USA — march into the battlepit in a looming war between their legions of fans behind that could very well be an X-factor.

“It’s not my first huge match. It’s definitely going to be a tough one as Coco (Gauff) is an amazing player and playing at home. I’m expecting a big crowd to rally behind her just because she’s amazing but it’s like every other match,” said Ms. Eala, whose doubles campaign with American partner Iva Jovic ended early at the hands of Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko and USA’s Hailey Baptiste on Sunday, 6-2, 6-2.

“I had to dig really deep last game so I’m expecting that I have to do even more against Coco. I’m ready and I’m looking forward to it.”

Ms. Eala carved out a gritty 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 win against WTA No. 52 Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine in Round 2 after gaining a first-round bye as the No. 31 seed in the stacked 96-player field. The No. 4 seed Ms. Gauff, for her part, also had a first-round bye then drubbed No. 88 Kamilla Rakhimova of Uzbekistan, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5).

And so the stage for Eala-Gauff II is set with all metrics and indicators pointing to the American star as the undisputed heavy favorite, especially after a 6-0, 6-2 win against the rising Filipina in the quarterfinals of the WTA 1000 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships last month.

Ms. Eala as the fast-rising international tennis poster girl this time around is hoping for an entirely different result, with a backing from California as the biggest state with a Filipino population at around two million against the face of American tennis right now in Ms. Gauff.

“It means the world to have this community behind me in such a prestigious tournament. For them to make the effort to stay up late and in the cold and cheer me on, it really added to the feelings and the emotion after the match,” said Ms. Eala, who threw her racquet and put her hands up much to the crowd’s eruption after escaping Ms. Yastremska from a 4-5 deficit in the third set.

Ms. Eala, assured of 65 ranking points plus guaranteed purse of $61,865 (around P3.6 million) is already at No. 29 for a new career-high in the WTA live rankings but a gigantic win against Ms. Gauff could catapult her closer to the Top 25.

And that’s all she ever wants for a good springboard to a grand return to the Miami Open, where her rise started with a final four finish last year as a wildcard, on March 17 to 29.

“I’m excited. It was a tough match for me against Coco last time. She played really well so all I can do is take the learnings I have from our last match and try to implement that in this one,” she beamed. — John Bryan Ulanday