Filipina tennis star Alex Eala goes home with more lessons learned from a historic Wimbledon debut as she and German partner Eva Lys bow in a sweep to doubles veterans Ingrid Martins and Quinn Gleason
MANILA, Philippines – Chemistry and experience trump individual talent.
This was the lesson learned the hard way by Alex Eala and Eva Lys of Germany as American Quinn Gleason and Brazilian Ingrid Martins scored a comprehensive beatdown, 6-4, 6-2, in the opening round of the 2025 Wimbledon Championships doubles on Thursday, July 3.
World No. 56 Eala and No. 61 Lys are both emerging young players in the women’s tour singles, but they soon realized that their combined individual prowess was no match for the teamwork displayed by their opponents who are doubles specialists and long-time partners.
The second and deciding set lacked the drama and excitement of the opener as the world No. 70 Gleason and No. 80 Martins took over beginning the third game when they broke Eala for the first time to go up 2-1.
The American and Brazilian duo continued to roll, zooming to a 5-1 lead to all but take the fight out of the newly-formed Filipino-German tandem. It was all over after an hour and 25 minutes as Gleason and Martins held serve in the eighth game to take the second set and match, 6-2.
It was only the second Wimbledon appearance for Quinn who last played in the tournament in 2021, while Martins was returning after reaching the third round in 2023.
Gleason and Martins will now advance to the second round in a tournament they were not supposed to even be part of, coming in only as last-minute replacements for Anna Danilovic of Serbia and Anastasia Potapova of Russia who withdrew from the competition on Tuesday, July 1.
The opening set was a close-quarter battle that was decided by a solitary service break. Eala, ranked 155th in the world in doubles, held serve to open the match and give them their first taste of the lead at 1-0.
But the American and Brazilian pair, which emerged champions of the WTA 125 Montreux Ladies Open and the WTA 250 Merida Open Akron last year, and the WTA 125 Città di Grado Tennis Cup just this June, raced to a 3-1 advantage after breaking the world doubles No. 1486 Lys in the third game.
The rest of the games went the way of the servers, although Eala and Lys had their chances to level the score in the eighth and tenth games when they held break point.
Unfortunately for Eala and Lys, they were unable to convert, allowing Gleason and Martins to hold on and pocket the first set after 44 minutes.