Alex Eala Faces Off With Tennis' Legend Venus Williams—And Wins

Alex Eala welcomes 2026 with a major win at the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand. Teaming up in the women's doubles with American tennis player Iva Jovic, Alex and Iva beat veterans Venus Williams and Elina Svitolina, clinching a 7-6 (7), 6-1 victory.

ICYDK, both Venus and Elina are established veterans of the sport—they've been professionally competing since the '90s and 2010s, respectively. Over the years, Venus has played with and against her sister, Serena Williams, another global tennis phenomenon who's most known for being one of the longest consecutive titleholders of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) No. 1 ranking. Venus has also built a strong career of her own, winning 49 WTA Tour-level singles titles and capturing an Olympic gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Games.

Elina, meanwhile, has claimed 18 WTA Tour singles titles and made history as the first Ukrainian player to break into the WTA Top 10 rankings.

During the competition, Alex and Iva worked hard to secure the victory. The opening set proved especially tense, with the young duo facing immense pressure as they had to save eight set points before edging out their veteran opponents, 9-7, in the tiebreaker.

"There was a great first set and you get the momentum after that," Alex shared after the match on the official website.

She added, "But it's so easy to kind of crash, and I think we did a good job of keeping each other's energy."

Iva echoed Alex's sentiments, noting that the first set of the year "is always tricky." Still, the pair stayed composed, encouraged one another, and played with the belief that the match was far from over.

"So I think I did a good job of resetting and bringing my energy up in the second [set] and then riding it through to the third. It's never easy in those types of matches. So I'm glad to just get through it," Iva said.

The pair is now officially advancing to the doubles quarterfinals, where they will face the winner of the match between Desirae Muhammad and Erin Routliffe against Tereza Maleckova and Renata Zarazua.