![\"Iva](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/GettyImages-2254705192-e1788520142522.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Iva Jovic of USA and Alexandra Eala of the Phillipines celebrate after winning their first round doubles match against Elina Svitolina of Ukraine and Venus Williams of USA during day one of the 2025 ASB Classic at ASB Tennis Centre on January 05, 2026 in Auckland, New Zealand. <\/p>\n
American teenage prodigy Iva Jovic is \u201csuper excited\u201d to face her dear friend Alex Eala in the third round of the US Open this weekend.<\/p>\n
After her 6-4, 6-4 win over Francesca Jones on Thursday, Jovic praised Eala for playing \u201cgreat tennis\u201d through the first two rounds at Flushing Meadows.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m super excited,\u201d Jovic said<\/a> of facing Eala at the US Open for the first time ever.<\/p>\n \u201cThe atmosphere is gonna be amazing. She\u2019s been playing some great tennis. It\u2019s nice to be playing each other 3rd round, deeper into the Slam. Hopefully we can all keep going on runs like this,\u201d added Jovic.<\/p>\n As Jovic alluded to, the only previous Grand Slam clash between her and Eala came in the first round of this year\u2019s French Open. The American prevailed in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2, and beat Eala again in the second round of the HSBC Championships in June. However, Eala has grown in confidence since those two encounters, notably with her historic win in Washington and fourth-round finish in Wimbledon.<\/p>\n Iva Jovic-Alex Eala Friendship<\/p>\n Friends since their junior WTA days, Eala and Jovic first crossed paths at the 2022 Junior US Open when Jovic faced Eala and her partner, Mirra Andreeva, in doubles. Touched by Eala\u2019s warmth during that initial meeting, Jovic built a lasting bond with her that has only strengthened as both transitioned to the senior tour.<\/p>\n So much so that they chose to pair up as doubles partners at the ASB Classic in Auckland earlier this year. During the tournament, Jovic jokingly said that she felt \u201cadopted\u201d by Eala\u2019s large and passionate Filipino fanbase.<\/p>\n Furthermore, after her French Open victory, Jovic sent a touching message to Eala.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of those days I wish there could be two winners, \u2764\ufe0f you @alex.eala.\u201d The American expressed similar sentiments after her win at Queen\u2019s Club in June.<\/p>\n \u201cI wish we could play at later stages of the tournaments,\u201d she said, via WTA Tennis.<\/a>\u00a0\u201cHopefully when both of our rankings go up, we will be on other sides of the brackets until semis or finals.\u201d<\/p>\n Alex Eala Faces Big Challenge<\/p>\n Eala has been in scorching form through the first two rounds of the US Open, dispatching her opponents in straight sets \u2014 6-1, 6-2 and 6-1, 6-4. However, she realizes that things are about to get tougher in the third round, albeit against a familiar face.<\/p>\n After her second-round win on Thursday, Eala was asked if she was looking forward to a potential clash against Jovic (she wasn\u2019t aware of her opponent at the time).<\/p>\n \u201cThe sisterhood, having friends on tour, has helped me so much,\u201d Eala said of her friendship with Jovic, via TNT Sports.<\/a> \u201cOff the court, on the court, the friends I have I really admire. What they\u2019ve been through and what they go for.<\/p>\n \u201cIva, she\u2019s an amazing player, young, very talented, and very intelligent. She\u2019s a higher-ranked player, very accomplished and I\u2019ve encountered my fair share of challenges against her this year.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not under my control who I play, I have to give my best and try everything I can to win.\u201d<\/p>\n The winner of Alex Eala vs Iva Jovic will most likely face Coco Gauff in the next round. The 2023 US Open champ will face the unseeded Cristina Bucsa in the third round.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tSai Mohan<\/a> covers the NBA for Heavy.com. Based in Portugal, Sai is a seasoned sportswriter with nearly two decades of publishing experience, including bylines at Yardbarker, FanSided’s Hoops Habit and more. More about Sai Mohan<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Iva Jovic of USA and Alexandra Eala of the Phillipines celebrate after winning their first round doubles…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":883036,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":["post-883035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=883035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/883036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=883035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=883035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=883035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}