Time to shine in Paris

MANILA, Philippines — Birthday girl Alex Eala seeks a historic feat and a fitting present to herself in Round 1 of her French Open main draw debut against Colombia’s Emiliana Arango today at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris.

Eala, who turned 20 last Friday, clashes with world No. 88 Arango at 6:10 p.m. (Manila time) with hopes of getting a payback in their second duel for a rousing start in her much-awaited Roland Garros stint amongst the sport’s titans.

Already the first Filipina to ever play in a Grand Slam main draw, Eala is out to become the first winner, too, for hopefully another deep playoff run like her unforgettable Miami Open campaign.

A regular qualifier in the past, Eala gets a direct invite to the clay tourney – one of four tennis majors in the world – after making it to the Top 100 of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) rankings.

She has ascended higher from the ranks since then, now at a new career-best No. 69 for a good momentum ahead of a revenge bid against tough rival Arango.

Arango, 24, beat Eala in the qualifiers of the 2024 French Open by erasing a one-set deficit, 2-6, 7-5, 6-1.

Eala, who was once a girls’ doubles champion in the French Open with Russian partner Oksana Selekhmeteva, this year pulled off a Cinderella run in the same Miami tourney with a historic Final Four finish.

That served as her ticket to the French Open main draw as well as the other WTA 1000 and Grand Slams all season long, not needing to go through the qualifying round where she fell short every time in multiple attempts.

A win by Eala would push her to the second round against either Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova or No. 8 seed Qinwen Zheng of China, who stunned world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka of Russia earlier this month in the Italian Open for a semifinal finish.

Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic moved to within one win of securing his 100th ATP title by defeating a battling Cameron Norrie to reach the final of a clay-court event in Geneva on Friday.

The 24-time Grand Slam champion, playing in Switzerland to warm up for the French Open, missed a match point in the second set before eventually winning 6-4, 6-7 (6/8), 6-1.

“It was the toughest match of the tournament for me so far, three sets,” said Djokovic.