Eala faces Fil-Canadian Fernandez at Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart

PHILIPPINE tennis will be in full display as homegrown bet Alexandra “Alex” Eala and Filipina-Canadian stalwart Leylah Fernandez collide an intriguing and rare duel to start the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix on Monday in Stuttgart, Germany.

The match is set at late afternoon at the posh Porsche Arena pending delays of the first matches, promising an explosive duel for the first time between two of the world’s fast-rising stars today.

Ms. Eala, 20, has become one of the international crowd darlings this year after a magnificent run that pushed her to a career-best ranking of No. 29 in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) rankings.

She has slipped to No. 46 after falling short from replicating a Final Four finish in the Miami Open but is expected to climb the ladder anew after kickstarting her clay campaign in the Upper Austria Ladies Linz Open last week.

Ms. Eala reached the second round and fell to former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia for the first time, 6-4, 7-5, after winning their first two meetings.

The 23-year-old Ms. Fernandez, whose mother is a Filipina but was born and grew up representing Canada, boasts a higher ranking at No. 25 and reached a career-best of No. 13.

She’s best known as a finalist in the 2021 US Open, bowing to another young star in now 23-year-old Emma Raducanu of the United Kingdom, to mark her rise in world tennis.

Ms. Fernandez, who’s fresh from a Round of 16 finish in the Charleston Open in the United States, also has five WTA titles compared to Ms. Eala’s one to loom as the heavy favorite.

Ms. Eala advanced to the Stuttgart main draw from the qualifying round as a late replacement of Paris Olympic gold medalist and No. 37 Qinwen Zheng of China, who withdrew due to injury.

Both Mses. Eala and Fernandez are left-handed for an added spice as they rev up for the much-awaited queen of clay tourney at the Roland Garros in Paris on May 24 to June 7.

The winner gets a shot against either world No. 8 Jasmine Paolini of Italy or a qualifier in Round 2.

Aside from Ms. Paolini as the No. 5 seed in Stuttgart, also in the fray are top-ranked players in world No. 2 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, No. 3 Coco Gauff of the USA, No. 4 Iga Swiatek of Poland, No. 4 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, No. 10 Mirra Andreeva of Russia, No. 12 Karolina Muchova of Czechia and No. 13 Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia to complete the Top 8 seeds. — John Bryan Ulanday