Eala begins historic Wimbledon campaign as first Filipina seed

Alex Eala is set to make more history as she opens her campaign at the 2026 Wimbledon Championships, becoming the first Filipino player to compete in the tournament's singles main draw as a seeded entrant.

The 21-year-old received the No. 29 seed, marking the first time a Filipino has earned a seed in Wimbledon singles during either the amateur or Open era.

Eala opens her bid on the grass courts of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club against Mexico's Renata Zarazúa, the current world No. 76.

The tournament offers another chance for the rising Filipina star to build on her growing Grand Slam résumé. In five previous singles main-draw appearances across the majors, her breakthrough came at the 2025 US Open, where she rallied past Denmark's Clara Tauson to claim her first Grand Slam main-draw victory.

Her opening-round opponent is no stranger.

Eala and Zarazúa teamed up in the women's doubles event at the 2025 French Open, reaching the second round after defeating Britain's Emily Appleton and Spain's Yvonne Cavallé-Reimers before bowing to Anastasia Potapova and Olga Danilović.

The two have also met in singles. Zarazúa rallied to beat Eala in three sets in the quarterfinals of the 2024 ITF W100 Cary Tennis Classic in North Carolina. They were also slated to partner in doubles later that year at the Koser Jewelers Tennis Challenge, but the tournament was canceled due to bad weather.

A victory in the opening round could set up a challenging second-round encounter against either Australia's Maya Joint or former world No. 1 Serena Williams.

Joint denied Eala a WTA 250 Eastbourne title last season, while Williams, despite an extended absence from singles competition, remains one of the most accomplished players in tennis history.

Eala will also see action in the women's doubles competition alongside Czech rising star Nikola Bartůňková.

The partnership began at the WTA 125 Birmingham Open earlier this month, where Eala defeated Bartůňková in the singles final before the two joined forces in doubles. Although they exited in the opening round of doubles, Eala went on to capture the singles championship.

Their Wimbledon doubles debut will be a stern test as they take on Grand Slam champions Jeļena Ostapenko of Latvia and Sofia Kenin of the United States in the opening round.

Ostapenko, the 2017 French Open singles champion, is ranked No. 10 in the WTA doubles rankings and is also the reigning US Open doubles champion. Kenin captured the 2020 Australian Open singles title and currently sits No. 27 in the doubles rankings.

Already assured of a place in Philippine tennis history, Eala now sets her sights on turning that milestone into her deepest Wimbledon run yet.