Alex Eala has faced Elina Svitolina twice this season and beaten her both times. On Tuesday at the US Open, the Ukrainian great shows up with reinforcements: her husband, Gael Monfils, and a mixed doubles crown on the line.
A star-studded debut for the Eala-Auger-Aliassime experiment
The Filipina star and Canadian partner Felix Auger-Aliassime open the revamped US Open mixed doubles championship against Svitolina and Monfils, with first serve set for 10 p.m. Tuesday, Philippine time at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. Eala and Auger-Aliassime are one of the wildcard entries in the 16-team draw, a field stacked with singles stars who wanted in on the fastest-moving event on the Slam calendar.
Their opponents needed no introduction. Svitolina and Monfils received their own wild card for their first official tournament as a team, a farewell-season storyline for the French showman that doubles as a family affair: the two married in 2021 and have a daughter, Skai.
How the partnership came together
The duo share the same agency, and Auger-Aliassime said the deal came together quickly: “Same agency, and then I think the people in our teams kind of talked and made that happen.” There is also a Mallorca thread: both players have ties to the Rafael Nadal Academy, where Eala spent much of her formative development.
The sprint format, explained
Unlike traditional doubles, this event is built for speed. Matches before the final use four-game sets with no-ad scoring, and a 10-point match tiebreak replaces the third set. Only the final reverts to six-game sets.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Field | 16 teams, knockout format |
| Sets (pre-final) | First to 4 games, no-ad scoring |
| Deuce rule | Next point wins the game |
| One set apiece | 10-point match tiebreak |
| Final | Best of 3, six-game sets, tiebreak at 6-6 |
| Eala-FAA opener | vs Svitolina-Monfils, 10 p.m. Tuesday (PH time) |
| If they win | Quarterfinals later the same day |
Why this matchup is personal for Eala
Eala owns a 2-0 season record against Svitolina in singles, including a straight-sets win in the DC Open semifinals on the way to her first WTA 500 title in Washington. The Ukrainian will remember that. Monfils, meanwhile, brings doubles craft and net instincts that none of her singles rivals ever showed her.
The mixed doubles tune-up sits inside a packed New York swing: Eala arrived as the first Filipina inside the WTA top 20 at No. 18, carries the 17th seeding into the women’s singles draw, and plays the Stars of the Open exhibition against Iva Jovic on August 28 before singles begins.
How to follow from the Philippines
US broadcasts put the early rounds on ESPN2 and ESPN+, and local fans can track every point through Inquirer’s US Open coverage and GMA News’ live updates. A win on Tuesday night sends Eala and Auger-Aliassime straight into a same-day quarterfinal, with the semifinals and final stacked into the same sprint week.
Whether this ends with a trophy or an early exit, the experiment answers a question Philippine tennis has never gotten to ask on this stage: what happens when the country’s best player shares a court with a top ATP talent? We find out at 10 p.m.
