Jovic sets friendship aside to defeat Eala again at Queen's
LONDON -- For the second time in three weeks, Iva Jovic put friendship to one side and showed no mercy on court.
The No. 6 seed needed just 76 minutes to rout Alexandra Eala 6-2, 6-2 at the HSBC Championships, advancing to her fifth quarterfinal of 2026 (and first at tour level of her career on grass). It was even more dominant than Jovic's 6-4, 6-2 defeat of Eala at the same stage of Roland Garros.
Eala was on a six-match winning streak after capturing the Birmingham WTA 125 title last week, but in a match that pitted two similar game styles against each other, was too often unable to keep up with the American. In high-octane exchanges of flat, aggressive groundstrokes, Eala's 12 winners were outweighed by her 19 unforced errors.
By contrast, Jovic was near-flawless, landing 26 winners and committing only nine unforced errors. She'll next face No. 2 seed and last year's finalist, Amanda Anisimova, for the first time.
After her Roland Garros victory, Jovic wrote on social media: "One of those days I wish there could be two winners, ❤️ you @alex.eala." She expressed similar sentiments after the Queen's reprise.
"I wish we could play at later stages of the tournaments," she said in her press conference. "Hopefully when both of our rankings go up, we will be on other sides of the brackets until semis or finals."
Two of the most exciting young talents on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz, 18-year-old Jovic and 21-year-old Eala have been friends ever since the 2022 US Open. Eala won that tournament to become the first Filipina junior Grand Slam champion in history, and partnered with Mirra Andreeva to defeat Jovic and Shannon Lam 6-2, 6-2 in the first round of the girls' doubles.
"We got killed," Jovic recalled. "That was the first time I met her, and she's been a very nice person ever since. Last year I got to know her much better."
But Jovic has been competing against friends for most of her life, and by this point it's long ceased to be a particular challenge for her. Not least because there are no hard feelings from Eala.
"There is no bad blood," said Jovic. "We were just talking in the locker room. It's all good. We're back to being friends now off the court."