An insight into the Battle of the Sexes: Alexandra Eala the only woman on the court in peculiar mixed doubles contest at Macau Tennis Masters

Alexandra Eala found herself in a bizarre situation in the Macau Tennis Masters in her mixed doubles clash. In a Battle of the Sexes turn, she was the only woman on the court after a late lineup change. She and Shang Juncheong pushed their opponents to the limit, but were unable to topple Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Wu Yibbing, losing 7-5, 7-6(1).

The teenage sensation has enjoyed a marvellous year on the WTA Tour, picking hup her first title while breaking into the top 50 for the very first time. She had made a lot of progress in what is still the premature stages in what is touted to be a glorious career at the top of the sport. She has already made a lot of history for her home country, the Philippines, in her short spell on tour. Already making highlight runs like the final in the Eastbourne Open and the semi-final at the Miami Open have firmly placed her on the map.

Day one started brilliantly for Team Conchita. Davidiovich Fokina managed to overcome home-favourite Shang in a closely fought contest, winning 7-6, 7-5. They would then be straight back onto the court to compete in the mixed double contest.

While Shang and Eala would team up, Davidovich Fokina was supposed to take to the court with 18-year-old talent Mirra Andreeva. The world number nine has already showed her credentials after winning two WTA 1000 titles early in 2025 while making a number of deep runs in Grand Slam tournaments. She was hoping to make a first appearance in Macau in the doubles clash but was too unwell to compete.

Not to worry, as Wu was waiting in the wings to replace the Russian. This meant that Eala was the only women on the court for this mixed doubles clash, making it a very unique matchup and portraying hints of the upcoming Battle of the Sexes between Aryna Sabalenka and Nick Kyrgios.

Eala and Shang made the most of this disadvantage, holding their own in what was a very competitive contest involving the four players. They were just pipped for the first set before the second set went all the way to a tiebreaker, convincingly won by Davidovich Fokina and Wu.

"Maybe it was more fun for me than Jerry [Shang]," Eala commented after the match in an on-court interview. She was also open to the idea of competing double matches at official tour-level events. "I think maybe (yes), you know?" she stated. "Depends. Depends on the person."

Eala was due some praise, and got it in abundance from Wu who was full of praise for the 20-year-old. "She is actually returning great and playing some really good tennis and I like the two-handed backhand like how you do it," he said.

The Filippino will return to the court on December 28 as she is set to face off against Andreeva in a highly anticipated tie. They have met once in the US Open girls quarter-final back in 2022 as Eala went on to win the event. The two young talents will be looking to put on a show in front of a hopeful crowd. This will be closely followed by Shang and Wu facing off ahead of Ugo Humbert and Davidovich Fokina culminating an action-packed day of tennis in Macau.