WTA Weekly: Singapore & Korea Open Previews | Can Eala win another title? Ostapenko no.1 in Seoul

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Welcome to the Asian Swing People. There is a couple of quick mentions I want to give to the last seven days in tennis, which did not occur in Asia. In Sao Paulo and also in Guadalajara, we had tournaments last week. We're just going to give a quick nod to those tournaments. Eva Jovic retaining her title in Guadalajara. Just give me a quick word on Eva and that title win, Nick.

Nick (1:26)

Yeah, well, this ended up being kind of one of the cornerstones of her ranking. She's solidly top 16 at the moment. She's had a really good year.

Another 500 title won this year as well, but this was important because last year that 500 that she won in Guadalajara was kind of the cornerstone to that rise because those 500 points are very significant. And so losing those could have had a bit of an impact on whether she stayed in the top 20 or not long term. So winning this long term for her really, really significant. Aside from that, she was clearly the top seed. She played by far the best in Guadalajara. You can see that by the score lines. She was, she ended up becoming the eventual champion. I think Kostjic might have been the top seed actually, but Kostjic went out in the quarterfinals having not needed to play a match to get there.

John Silk (2:23)

Yeah.

And- This is Jovich's run with that nobler set, yeah.

Nick (2:27)

Yeah, look, other than Sonmez, who put up a bit of a fight, like she came through some tricky opponents in Freck and Buxar, and I thought Peyton Stearns was having a really good tournament and thought she would really challenge Jovich in that final. And Jovich was definitely the better player in that, in that, as you can see, and you can see why she's top 20 in Stearns isn't at the moment. Obviously, that could change. Stearns is a very talented player.

And has a lot of potential. But I do think that this is a good result for Ivo Jovich to come away with solidifying herself at the top 20 and continuing this really, continue to circle her as a star for future, as we saw at the US Open after that match with Alex Eala. And almost like, well, Jovich is now one of 500 It's at Eala's turn, but we'll get to that.

John Silk (3:22)

Yeah, Jovich, yeah, well, of course, we've already had a 500 title for Eala earlier on this year, but maybe she's going to repeat the trick in Singapore. But as you say, we're going to really go into Singapore and the Korean opens in a big way shortly. Just one more thing on Ivo Jovich.

I think of all the youngsters, you've already mentioned Alex Eala, but there were several others. Well, Midoran Dravo, I sort of put in a different category, even though they're maybe similar ages, because of the burst out nature of her onto the scene in 2023 And she feels far more established than Jovich and Eala.

Nick (4:01)

She's a Grand Slam champion now, and these others aren't.

John Silk (4:03)

Exactly. Well, exactly. But also she was well ahead of those on that trajectory. I don't think many of us were thinking Jovich or Eala was going to win a Grand Slam this year, but some, maybe many, maybe not many, but some were thinking this could be the year for Mida, albeit that I think she had to sort of get her act together by the beginning of the clay court swim, but that's certainly what she did. And I think there's going to be many more to come.

Regarding Jovich, she's winning Grand Slams. I don't know whether it will be many, many, many or whether it will be multiple, but the ability she has, particularly on a hard court, but also on grass as well.