Alexandra Eala will play Iva Jovic in the first round of Roland Garros this year.
Eala was handed a difficult Roland Garros draw this year, causing doubts about how far she will go at the tournament this year.
The Filipina’s tough draw starts from the first round, with Eala playing 17th seed Jovic.
Eala and Jovic are good friends on the WTA Tour, and now former world number one Andy Roddick has predicted who he thinks will win the match.
Andy Roddick backs Iva Jovic to beat Alexandra Eala at Roland Garros
When previewing their match on his ‘Served with Andy Roddick‘ podcast ahead of Roland Garros this year, Roddick backed Jovic to beat Eala and reach the second round.
This will be the first time that Eala and Jovic have been on opposite sides of the court on the WTA Tour, having played doubles together in Auckland and Indian Wells this year.
Both players have had mixed results during the clay court season this year, highlighted by Eala’s first round exit at the Strasbourg Open.
Eala has not lost all of her matches on clay this year, having beaten Magdalena Frech and Xinyu Wang to achieve her best result at the Italian Open, as well as beating former Roland Garros finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in Madrid.
Jovic also lost her only match in Strasbourg, but the American has enjoyed some clay court success this year after reaching the semifinals of the Charleston Open.
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What happened to Alexandra Eala at Roland Garros last year?
This will be Eala’s second main draw appearance at Roland Garros, and she will be hoping to improve on her result last year.
At last year’s tournament, Eala was beaten in the first round by Colombian player Emiliana Arango.
Jovic also made her main draw debut at the Paris major last year, beating Renata Zarazua in the first round, before being beaten in the second round by Elena Rybakina.
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Eala has been practicing at Roland Garros ahead of her first round match against Jovic, which will take place on either Monday, March 25 or Tuesday, March 26.
Even if Eala loses in the first round, she will still remain in Paris for the Roland Garros doubles draw that she is entered into alongside Victoria Mboko.
