Who will Alex Eala play in her first match at the Sao Paulo Open?

Oli Dickson Jefford 08 Sep 2025 2:45 PM

Alex Eala hits a backhand.

It has been a month of extraordinary milestones for Alex Eala, and now the 20-year-old will look to continue her recent momentum at the SP Open in Sao Paulo.

Eala made history at the US Open just over two weeks ago, stunning 14th seed Clara Tauson to become the first player from the Philippines in the Open Era to win a Grand Slam singles match, and then backed that up by winning the biggest title of her career to date at the WTA 125 Guadalajara Open.

Having risen up 14 places in the WTA Rankings after her Guadalajara triumph, the Filipina will now look to rise further with a strong run at the WTA 250 event in Sao Paulo, where she is the third seed.

One of the highest-ranked players in the draw, Eala will surely fancy her chances of a deep run and will be a heavy favourite to win her opening match.

Her SP Open campaign begins against qualifier Yasmine Mansouri — here is all you need to know about the Frenchwoman.

Who is Yasmine Mansouri?

Mansouri will not be a name familiar to most tennis fans, with the 24-year-old spending the majority of her career playing on the ITF circuit.

The 24-year-old Frenchwoman has won five W15-level singles titles in her career — with four of those victories coming in Monastir — and has also reached a further five ITF Tour finals.

She reached a career-high of world No 314 in February 2025 and is now at 380th in the WTA Rankings, with a 25-24 win-loss record for the season to date.

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Mansouri has reached three ITF semi-finals in 2025, though she has struggled outside of that, and her last result before Sao Paulo was a second-round exit to Linda Fruhvirtova in Leiria.

The 24-year-old made her WTA Tour debut at the 2022 Jasmine Open in Monastir, receiving a wildcard into the main draw; she was beaten in straight sets by Magdalena Frech in the opening round.

São Paulo qualifying campaign

While Eala will approach this match with momentum following her successful run in Guadalajara, Mansouri will have her own momentum after coming through qualifying at the WTA 250 event.

Seeded fourth in qualifying, the Frenchwoman beat home wildcard Ana Cruz 6-3, 6-2 in round one, before sealing her place in the main draw thanks to a 6-2, 6-4 victory over another Brazilian, Thaisa Grana Pedretti.

Unsurprisingly, this will be the first meeting between Mansouri and Eala, who are separated by 319 places in the WTA Rankings.

This opening-round SP Open match will likely take place on Tuesday, with the winner progressing to take on either Julia Riera or Vitalia Diatchenko.