Eala, Mboko team up in French Open doubles

ALEXANDRA “ALEX” EALA will partner with fellow rising star Victoria Mboko of Canada against the best of the best in the 2026 French Open doubles next week.

It will be the first team up for the 20-year-old Filipina and the 19-year-old Canadian after meeting twice in the singles of their budding careers.

Ms. Eala, WTA No. 42, beat Ms. Mboko in the semifinals of the 2022 US Open girls’ singles, 6-1, 7-6, en route to becoming the first Filipino Grand Slam junior champion. Ms. Mboko, who has since ascended to world No. 9, returned the favor in the pros, scoring a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 comeback win at Hong Kong Open Round of 16 last year.

Now, they’ll be on the same side of the clay court with hopes of a deep campaign even against the doubles titans led by No. 1 seed pair of Czechia’s Katerina Siniakova (world doubles No. 1) and USA’s Taylor Townsend (world doubles No. 2) who eliminated Ms. Eala, with Turkey’s Zeynep Sonmez in the Madrid Open and in the Italian Open with American partner Hailey Baptiste.

Ms. Eala is No. 88 in doubles while Ms. Mboko is No. 133, making it a tall order against more experienced tandems in Roland Garros set on May 24 to June 7 in Paris.

Both rising stars are also listed in the main draw of the French Open singles for a double duty.

But first things first for Ms. Eala and that’s to qualify in the main draw of the WTA 500 Strasbourg Open, her last tournament leading up to the Queen of Clay.

It will be her fifth clay tournament as preparation for the French Open after the Upper Austria Ladies Linz Open in Austria (second round), the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany (first round), Mutua Madrid Open (second round) and the Italian Open (third round). — John Bryan Ulanday