Alexandra Eala is just 20 years old and will likely achieve long-term and high-end success, but if she wants to be the best, she has to consistently beat the best, and she couldn't do that against Elena Rybakina in the third round of the 2026 Italian Open.
From the start of the first set, Rybakina understood that she needed to push Eala on her serve. Whoever got the first break would, of course, control the narrative of the match. After the young Filipino held in the first game after a long game, she failed to do so in the third game, and the Kazakhstani had the break.
Rybakina consolidated the break and held serve the rest of the first set to take it 6-4. Eala wasn't playing badly, and she was showing the kind of power that will give most players issues, but Rybakina in top form is not most players. She is arguably the best player on the WTA tour on some days.
Elena Rybakina defeats Alexandra Eala at the 2026 Rome Masters
The beginning of the second set started the same, with Rybakina getting another break, but then, stunningly, Eala was able to get the break back. The momentum wouldn't last long. The WTA No. 2 got another break and then held to take a 4-2 lead. The drama of the outcome seemed long gone by this point.
While Eala is trying to reach the top 20 for the first time in her career, Rybakina has a bigger game to hunt. She is the solid No. 2 at this point, but if she goes on to win the tournament, she would be within 470 points of top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka, who was stunned in her third-round match by Sorana Cirstea.
Rybakina isn't at her best on clay, but she is having such a wonderful 2026 so far, having won the Australian Open and in Stuttgart, and reaching the final of Indian Wells, that she can't be counted out of any event. This includes the French Open, where she lost in the fourth round in 2025.
Sabalenka lost in the final at Roland Garros last year, so Rybakina has an outside chance of taking the top ranking by the time the French Open is over. Still, she needs to keep playing well at the Rome Masters, and if she plays as she did against Alexandra Eale, taking set two 6-3 after getting another break of the Filipino in the final game, she has a real chance to win the Masters event.
Elena Rybakina will next play the winner of the Laura Siegemund and Karolina Pliskova match in the round of 16. The Kazakh player will be favored to win.
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