Eala & American partner oust Williams and Svitolina in New Zealand

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

It wasn’t just a first-round tournament matchup.
That was a rare passing-of-the-torch moment in the sport of tennis.

On Jan. 5, 2026, Filipina tennis sensation Alex Eala teamed up with another rising WTA star, Iva Jovic from the U.S., and got the better of living legend Venus Williams and former World No. 3 Elina Svitolina, 7-6, 6-1, in the ASB Classic doubles tournament in Auckland, New Zealand.

The younger pairing prevailed over the more experienced WTA players, with Williams alone boasting a total of seven Grand Slams, 49 WTA singles titles, and 22 WTA doubles championships under her belt.

However, Eala and Jovic weren’t intimidated by their foes, and they made sure that the fountain of youth would continue to pour until the final scheduled date of the ASB Classic tourney.

The young 1-2 punch had to learn it the hard way, after Williams and Svitolina nearly stole the first set with a 5-3 lead.

Moving only a set point away from drawing first blood, Eala and Jovic pulled off a courageous come-from-behind effort, saving eight set points to equalize the opening set at 5-all.

After scoring a break point followed by a service hold, everyone who flocked to the Center Court gave Eala and Jovic a standing ovation, as they forced a deciding tiebreaker to settle the score.

Just when Eala and Jovic thought they already grasped full momentum, Williams took matters into her own hands and dominated the net area for a slim lead, igniting their chances of saving their early 5-3 lead with a tiebreak win.

Jovic countered with several clever plays at the net, including a fake smash turned drop, while Eala put the icing on the cake with a series of down-the-line groundstroke winners for a hard-fought 1-0 lead.

That was all they needed.

After getting out of the mud to climb back from a deep hole, Eala and Jovic never looked back as they crushed the matchup with a more efficient approach—attacking the middle while staying close to the baseline to avoid any lob clearances.

From a close encounter in the first set, the young guns settled in at the most crucial time of the second set, en route to a demolition exhibition for a 2-0 win.

Eala will look to bag her first win in the singles category this time against Donna Vekic today, while Jovic is already through to the next round and will face Sara Bejlek.