Alexandra Eala is in the first section of a tough 2025 US Open main draw as she challenges Denmark’s Clara Tauson on Sunday.
The 20-year-old Eala seeks to move up in the Women’s Tennis Association rankings again, after getting sidelined for a month by a shoulder injury.
“I’m trying to take it week by week. Long term, I want to be number one in the world, but (that’s a) long way away. It’s important to dream big,” said Eala in an interview posted on social media.
Eala’s absence in the Cincinnati and Monterey Opens has cost her precious points in efforts to breach the top 50 as she is now at no. 70 this week.
Her match with Tauson will mark Eala’s debut in the main draw of the women’s singles at the acrylic hardcourts of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, Queens.
The world no. 15 Tauson is coming off a 6-3, 6-7 (4), 4-6, loss to Veronika Kudermetova in the Round of 32 at the Cincinnati Open.
Eala and Tauson are bunched in the same bracket with no. 9 Elena Rybakina, who reached the semifinals at the Cincinnati Open, but lost to eventual champion Iga Swiatek, 7-5, 6-3.
World no. 31 Fil-Canadian netter Leylah Fernandez is also around as she recently claimed the title at the Mubadala Citi DC Open.
Tauson comes in confident as she has three WTA Tour titles, with two earned in 2021 at the Lyon and Luxembourg Opens, and at the recent Auckland Classic, where she beat Japan’s Naomi Osaka.
Before her injury, Eala finished strong at the Eastbourne Open, making it to the final, but fell just short of her first WTA Tour crown after bowing to Australia’s Maya Joint in a dramatic final-set tiebreak.
