Alex Eala will be facing a fellow Southeast Asian and history maker in the next round of the SP Open in Brazil.
Alex Eala will be put to the task by Indonesia’s Janice Tjen as they meet in the quarterfinals of the Sao Paulo Open in Brazil, later this week.
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Eala, 20, will be battling her fellow Southeast Asian who is coincidentally good friends with her former doubles partner, Priska Nugroho, also of Indonesia.
Eala won the 2020 Australian Open Girls’ Doubles title, her first Grand Slam Juniors title, with Nugroho.
The 23-year-old Tjen was reportedly encouraged to play tennis by Nugroho in her early years.
Tjen is decorated in the ITF Tour, with 13 singles titles and six doubles titles since turning pro in 2018. She currently ranks World No. 130 — a career best — after reaching the second round in the US Open.
Tjen has had a spectacular year so far, touting a highly effective 59-11 win-loss record for the year in singles.
Tjen made her mark in the US Open last month when she toppled 24-seed Veronika Kudermetova in three sets, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, to become the first Indonesian woman to win a Grand Slam match since Angelique Widjaja in 2003.
Eala herself met similar success, becoming the Philippines’ first player to ever win a Grand Slam main draw match in singles when she also won in the first round of the US Open against Clara Tauson.
Tjen exited the US Open in the second round after losing to former champion Emma Raducanu in a lopsided match, 6-2, 6-1.
In Sao Paulo, Tjen became the first Indonesian to reach a WTA quarterfinal since 2004.
Apart from playing in the tour, Tjen also competed in NCAA Division 1 tennis with the University of Oregon and Pepperdine University from 2020 to 2024. She is also a bronze medalist in doubles at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou.
Eala, ranked World No. 61, will test her mettle against Tjen to extend her ongoing win streak to eight and move closer to her maiden WTA 250 title.
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Luisa Morales is a sports writer with a special interest in promoting women’s sports.
Her coverage highlights include the UAAP, PVL, Southeast Asian Games, and the FIBA World Cup. She also follows Alex Eala, the Philippine women’s national football team, and mixed martial arts.