Alex Eala and Maya Joint will face each other for a place in the third round at Wimbledon on Thursday in what will be their first match in more than a year.
Many people were expecting an Alex Eala-Serena Williams encounter in the second round, but Joint held her nerve to defeat the returning tennis great in three sets in their opening match on Centre Court.
Joint broke once in the opening set and then had a match point during the second-set tie-breaker, but Williams produced an incredible fightback as she saved it to take the match to a decider.
The 23-time Grand Slam winner broke early in the third set, but Joint was not to be denied as she claimed two breaks and then served it out for a 6-3, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3 win over the tennis legend.
Asked how she feels after the big win, Joint replied: “I think it just gives me some confidence that I have been searching for for a while. Just, yeah, proving to myself that I can win and I’m still at, you know, the top level.”
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Up next is the seeded Eala, who had an easier day at the office as she beat Renate Zarazua 6-1, 6-2 to reach the second round at Wimbledon for the first time.
Joint and Eala faced each other once before and that was also on grass as it was at the Eastbourne Open final last June.
“Yeah, I’m surprised we haven’t played each other since. We have been in pretty much all the same tournaments,” the 20-year-old said.
“We had an amazing, epic match last time we played in Eastbourne. I’m expecting the same kind of match this time, and yeah, I’m really excited. I think it’s going to be really fun.”
The Australian won that encounter 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (12-10), but she has struggled in recent months as, after starting the 2026 season at No 32, she has slipped to No 87 in the WTA Rankings.
Eala, meanwhile, sits at No 32 and is coming off an excellent Wimbledon warm-up campaign as she won a WTA 125K title and reached the semi-final of the Berlin Open.
The Filipina believes she has improved a lot since their encounter last year.
“I had a really great match with Maya last year so I’d love to have the chance to improve on some things that I could have improved from that match,” the 29th seed said.
The winner of the Eala-Joint encounter will likely be rewarded with a third-round match against defending champion Iga Swiatek, although the six-time Grand Slam winner has a tricky clash against former world No 1 Karolina Pliskova next.
