Eala and Bencic share a lot in common as far as their games go—but have vastly different crowd behavior preferences

Alex Eala, that crowd-drawing, cheers-eliciting WTA star from the Philippines, and Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic have a lot in common as far as their game styles are concerned.

Both play with a lot of guile, like to take the ball extremely early, hit returns by using the incoming velocity against their foes and grind out points with torrid baseline games.

Article continues after this advertisement

That’s before what comes what they like—and hate—playing in the most.

While the 21-year-old Eala has transformed how tennis matches all over the world are now being watched—and how she fuels herself using the noise of the throng she commands—Bencic likes to play in a super-quiet atmosphere as they part ways on Monday morning in Manila in their round-of-16 clash in the National Bank Open in Toronto, Canada.

“I think it’s great,” Osaka had said of the Eala crowd in Washington after seeing a practice court filled to the brim because Eala was on it. “I think it’s really cool she’s building a new community [of fans].”

This preference of Bencic’s was known on the eve of their first clash, when videos of the Swiss despising crowds in one of her recent matches have made the rounds on social media. That patience of hers will be put to the test when she battles the red-hot Eala for a place in the quarterfinals of the WTA 1000 event.

Article continues after this advertisement

Bencic is a lone wolf in that regard, as a number of the game’s biggest stars see Eala as a blessing for their tour, with Caty McNally of the United States—though far from being the retired Serena Williams and four-time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka—making her feelings known when she lost to the Filipino ace in a party-like atmosphere on Saturday morning in Manila.

“She told me congratulations and she said, ‘thanks for letting me be a part of this,’ which is incredibly kind and gracious from her,” Eala said in a post-match conference after her 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 victory. “I think it’s super gracious and a lot of respect for Caty.

“I think there was a huge mutual respect for the great match that we had,” Eala said.

Article continues after this advertisement

“I think it was a really tough match today for many reasons, one being also that Caty is such a big fighter,” Eala went on in praise of McNally. “I think she’s got definitely some good weapons and, yeah, it was a tight one.”

Eala has won her last seven matches, the first five of those resulting in her first tour title in Washington after she came back from a set down to clip American Jessica Pegula in the Mubadala DC Open final.

Pegula later praised Eala and her rabid supporters, saying that such a thing is great for tennis, or something to that effect.

The popular Filipino will be coming into her match with Bencic still nursing the ill-effects of a slightly twisted ankle against McNally and two three-setters. Bencic will be the fresher of the two after playing a combined five sets in dispatching of Taylor Townsend and Sloane Stephens. INQ