Elina Svitolina explains how she feels about having to play Alex Eala in Washington after losing to her recently
Elina Svitolina earned a place in the Washington Open quarter finals by defeating Polina Kudermetova in straight sets.
Svitolina has been incredibly consistent throughout the 2026 campaign and she has continued that precedent in her first hardcourt match of the North American swing.
The Ukrainian star is the second seed at the WTA 500 event, so she is many fans’ pick to win the event at the Washington Open.
She faces a tough test in the quarter finals, however, as she will face Alex Eala for a place in the final four of the tournament.
Eala has impressively defeated Qinwen Zheng and Leylah Fernandez to earn a place in the last eight of the tournament and she arrived in Washington off the back of a terrific grass court campaign.
Svitolina and Eala have only played each other once on the WTA Tour, which went the way of Eala. The Filipina star knocked Svitolina out of the Berlin Open on the grass, which has lingered in the mind of the Ukrainian.
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“It was not an easy battle for me,” said Svitolina about her defeat to Eala at the Berlin Open earlier this year.
However, she remains positive she can beat the Filipina star at a different tournament, on the hardcourts of the Washington Open.
“Tomorrow is a new surface, new country, a new city, so it’s a new challenge, and hopefully I’m going to draw some confidence from today’s match and carry it into tomorrow.”
Svitolina will arrive in the match as the favourite as she is currently ranked 19 places above Eala on the WTA Tour.
The Ukrainian currently finds herself ranked world No 9 in the WTA Tour rankings, while Eala sits at a career ranking high of world No 28.
Eala could soon join Svitolina in the top 20 of the WTA Tour rankings, however, if she continues her good form on the North American hardcourt swing.
The Filipina star is only defending 70 ranking points until the end of the US Open, so she could have a very lucrative time before the final Grand Slam of the season.
Eala is currently only 369 ranking points away from the top 20 of the rankings, so it is not inconceivable that the star makes her debut in the WTA Tour elite before the star of the US Open.
The US Open holds happy memories for Eala too, as she picked up her very first Grand Slam victory at the tournament last year against Clara Tauson.
She knocked the Dane out of the first round, before losing to Cristina Bucsa in the next round.
