Alex Eala v Jasmine Paolini: Match time, potential rankings jumps, what they said about each other
Alex Eala and Jasmine Paolini will battle it out for a quarter-final place at Wimbledon on Monday and we give you all the important info ahead of their match.
World No 32 Eala caused the biggest upset of the 2026 grass-court Grand Slam as she stunned defending champion and six-time Grand Slam winner Iga Swiatek in the third round, winning 7-6 (11-9), 6-2 to continue her historic run at the tournament.
The 21-year-old is the first Filipina woman to reach the fourth round of a major and now she will look to become the first to make it to a quarter-final.
But she will face another top player in Paolini as the Italian is a former runner-up at the All England Club, having lost to Barbora Krejcikova in 2024. The 13th-seeded Paolini breezed past Maria Sakkari in the round of 32 as she claimed a 6-1, 6-2 win over the Greek.
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For Paolini, this is only the second time that she has made it past the second round at Wimbledon following her run to the final two years ago.
The winner of the last-16 encounter between Eala and Paolini will face either 12th seed Marta Kostyuk or qualifier Ashlyn Krueger in the quarter-final.
When Is The Match?
The fourth-round Eala-Paolini match will open Centre Court proceedings on Monday as it will start 13:30 (BST time).
What Did They Say?
Eala: “I think she’s a great player. She is a great fighter, especially. It was not an easy match in Dubai for me. It will not be an easy match here either. But then again, every match is a different story.
“I’m going to do my best to prepare for that one and focus all my energy in trying to improve and do better, yeah.”
Paolini: “I know I’m going to play Eala. I saw a little bit the last game. You know, I think that the game of Eala’s fits very well to grass. She show a great level also in Berlin. I think she’s very dangerous player here.
“Yeah, let’s see how we are going to prepare the match. I played already her in Dubai this year. And I think it’s going to be a tough one the next, because as I said, I think she can play really well here.
The pair will face each other for a second time with Eala winning their only other encounter 6-1, 7-6 (7-5) on the hard courts in Dubai in February this year.
Paolini: “I think it’s good that I already played against her once. But here, it’s another surface, even if Dubai was really quick.
“I think I’m going to watch some matches here, because, you know, it’s already, like, five, six months ago. She’s playing great. She has a huge crowd with her. Now on the bridge they were screaming “Alex, Alex.” It’s so good for our sport, I think, also to involve more people around the world.
“I think she’s, like, a star of our sport, you know. It’s going to be a tough battle. The crowd, it’s going to be there every point. But that’s sport. I really enjoying also to play in those kind of situation, and hopefully many Italians will be there as well, honestly. (Smiling)”
WTA Rankings Chances
Eala climbed three places to a new career-high of No 28 in the Live Rankings with her win over Swiatek and she jump as high as No 28 if she reaches her maiden Grand Slam quarter-final.
Paolini is a former world No 4, but currently sits at No 17 in the official rankings. She is up one place to No 16 in the Live Rankings with her run to the fourth round and will move up another place if she defeats Eala.
