Alexandra Eala and Coco Gauff stepped onto Stadium 1 on Sunday night to the sound of enthusiastic cheers. Unfortunately, due to Gauff’s left arm injury, the night ended sooner than everybody wanted.
Eala won the match, 6-2, 2-0, RET. as Gauff was forced to pull the plug after suffering tingling in her arm in the opening set. She saw the on-court physio twice during the contest, after the 5-2 game in the opening set and again after the set, and elected not to continue after Eala smacked a forehand winner to go up 2-0 in set two.
“I felt it in the second game of the first set,” Gauff would later say. “I guess a simple way to put it, it felt like a firework was going off inside of my arm, and then my whole arm felt like it was on fire.”
Eala was disappointed to win in that fashion, but she was happy to reach the round of 16 as well. She is the first player from the Philippines to ever play the main draw at the BNP Paribas Open.
“Thank you Coco, for being an amazing competitor and an amazing role model – I really hope that everything is well and you will recover soon,” Eala said in her on-court interview.
“I really didn’t want to win this way, but this is still a really big moment for me to be able to play on Stadium 1 at Indian Wells against such a great competitor. I’m really grateful to be here and I’m super happy.”
After Gauff called it a night, the pair exchanged a hug at the net, and Gauff explained to Eala that she started feeling her injury in the first set.
“I’m sorry, I hate to do this,” Gauff told Eala.
The retirement was the second of Gauff’s career, and the first since 2022.
Eala, who once again received great support from the Filipino fan base, will face Linda Noskova in the second round.