Julia Christine Botin

Alex Eala to make Wimbledon Doubles debut with Germany’s Eva Lys

Article (news)

Dyan Castillejo

ABS-CBN News

<p>Filipina tennis star Alex Eala is back on the grass courts of Wimbledon, this time partnering with Germany’s rising talent Eva Lys in the women’s doubles draw. </p><p>The duo is set to play their opening match Thursday, as the second match on Court 4, against the experienced team of Quinn Gleason (USA, ranked No. 70) and Ingrid Martins (Brazil, ranked No. 80), who were late substitutes for Olga Danilovic and Anastasia Potapova.</p><p>The 23-year-old Lys, a fan favorite in Germany, couldn’t hide her excitement about teaming up with Eala.</p><p>“I’m super excited to play with her,” said Lys after her singles match on Wednesday. “She’s honestly one of the nicest girls on tour. I’ve known her for a while—we actually played each other a few years ago at a smaller tournament.”</p><p>Their unexpected partnership blossomed from a casual encounter on a practice court.</p><p>“It was totally random,” Lys laughed. “She was finishing up practice and I was just going in. We started chatting like we always do, and somehow doubles came up. She asked, ‘Do you have a partner for Wimbledon?’ I said no, and right there we agreed to team up!”</p><p>Both players have already exited the singles competition—Lys fell in a hard-fought second-round match against Linda Noskova, while Eala pushed former French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova to three sets in the first round. But their focus has now shifted to doubles, bringing renewed energy to their Wimbledon campaign.</p><div><iframe class="instagram-media instagram-media-rendered" id="instagram-embed-0" src="https://www.instagram.com/p/DLmkcfLyj4u/embed/?cr=1&amp;v=14&amp;wp=485&amp;rd=https%3A%2F%2Fod2-workbench-web.abs-cbn.com&amp;rp=%2F#%7B%22ci%22%3A0%2C%22os%22%3A37296.80000001192%2C%22ls%22%3A36797.09999996424%2C%22le%22%3A37228%7D" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="" frameBorder="0" height="880" data-instgrm-payload-id="instagram-media-payload-0" scrolling="no" style="background:white;max-width:540px;width:calc(100% - 2px);border-radius:3px;border:1px solid rgb(219, 219, 219);box-shadow:none;display:block;margin:0px 0px 12px;min-width:326px;padding:0px"></iframe></div><script async="" src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/a5euXXnSYiU?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><div><br/></div><p>“For me, it’s important to play with someone I know I’ll enjoy being on court with,” said Lys. “Fun is what drives me—and I think we’re both genuinely excited.”</p><p>Eala enters the doubles event with a ranking of No. 155 and a career-high live singles ranking of No. 54. Lys, currently ranked No. 53 in singles, is relatively new to the doubles scene, with a ranking of No. 1486, but brings plenty of firepower and chemistry to the team.</p><p>Their opponents, Gleason and Martins, are a seasoned duo with two WTA doubles titles under their belt—making them a tough but thrilling challenge for Eala and Lys in this exciting Wimbledon debut.</p>

<p>Filipina tennis star Alex Eala is back on the grass courts of Wimbledon, this time partnering with Germany’s rising talent Eva Lys in the women’s doubles draw.</p>

Filipina tennis star Alex Eala is back on the grass courts of Wimbledon, this time partnering with Germany’s rising talent Eva Lys in the women’s doubles draw.