Iva Jovic will face Alexandra Eala at the U.S. Open after both won their second-round matches late Thursday, setting up a meeting between two young players who already know each other well. The winner will move into the Round of 16.
The matchup now carries a little extra weight because Jovic, 18, and Eala, 21, have already played twice this year, with Jovic winning both times, including earlier this summer at Roland-Garros and in June at the HSBC Championships. Jovic said after beating Francesca Jones that the earlier run-in at Arthur Ashe Stadium during fan week, when the two invited their dads onto the court for an exhibition, felt like it might mean something. “I guess that was a little bit meant to be,” she said.
That moment helped turn a friendly connection into one of the more interesting pairings of the tournament. Jovic said the relationship matters because life on tour can be isolating and players need people they can lean on while they are traveling almost all the time. “It’s going to be intense, but I love it, and I like the Filipinos,” she said, adding that they bring “some really good energy.”
Eala reached the third round earlier in the day by beating Oleksandra Oliynykova, and her rise has made this meeting more noticeable beyond the draw itself. She first crossed paths with Jovic when Eala won the junior U.S. Open in 2022, and the bond has deepened since late last year. Even so, the competitive edge has not softened: Jovic has been the one to come out on top so far, which gives the rematch a built-in imbalance that does not fit the friendship storyline.
As of late Thursday night, it was still not known whether the match would be played on Arthur Ashe or Louis Armstrong, but the setting may matter as much as the scoreline. However it is assigned, the next meeting will test whether Jovic can keep control of a matchup she has owned so far, or whether Eala’s momentum and home-country spotlight around her can finally change the script.
