Alex Eala’s coach Joan Bosch has thrown down the gauntlet to Diana Shnaider ahead of their quarter-final clash at the Pan Pacific Open.
Last week, Eala lost in the second round to Shnaider at the Ningbo Open in two tight sets, and on Friday, the Filipino will be looking for revenge, this time in Japan.
The Russian ended up losing to eventual champion Elena Rybakina in the semi-finals, so she will head into this last-eight encounter full of confidence. The 22-year-old is two places off her career-high ranking of 11, and a tournament win in Tokyo this week would see her match that feat.
Eala, on the other hand, is five places back in 18th but a win against Shnaider would take her to a career-high of 16th. Ahead of this duel, coach Bosch may be engaging in a bit of mind games with the French Open semi-finalist.
He told Dyan Castillejo, “Yes, a top match for sure, because I think she’s 11th or 12th in the world. She made it to the semi-finals last week. She’s been doing well for a long time, and she did well at other tournaments in China, so it’s a very tough match where we have nothing to lose. We already lost last week, so she’s the one who is supposed to win tomorrow.”
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Bosch also had a message for Eala’s army of fans. The coach appeared to try and temper expectations from her expectant supporters, pointing out that at the start of last year, the left-hander was ranked outside the world’s top 150.
While he was very grateful for their backing, Bosch called for a sense of perspective. Indeed, the 21-year-old only won her first WTA title earlier this year in Washington, with the youngster still a long way off challenging for Grand Slams.
He added, “Expectation is good, because it means that the people and Filipinos support Alex a lot, and we are super grateful for that, but this doesn’t mean that you have to win every week.
“Never forget that when we were 140 (in the world), she made the semi-finals in Miami (2025), and all the players we beat were better than us, so it’s part of the game.
“If you just look at the draw every week, we are not the only ones losing, so every day everyone loses, and if someone has the expectation, we are super happy, and we are grateful for that, but expectation doesn’t mean to win every day or every week.
“In tennis, many players, they just win the tournament once a year or two times a year, so this is tennis. Maybe they should also check the players, and they see how difficult it is. We are happy with the Filipino supporters because we know they support us also, not only when we win, but because they really love Alex.”
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