Italy’s Jasmine Paolini is congratulated by Philippines’ Alex Eala after winning their women’s singles round of 16 tennis match on the eighth day of the 2026 Wimbledon Championships at The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, southwest London, on July 6, 2026. (Photo by Adrian Dennis / AFP)
LIVE: Alex Eala vs Jasmine Paolini – Wimbledon round of 16
Jasmine Paolini reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal in two years, edging out Alex Eala in a tense last 16 match at Wimbledon on Monday.
Italian thirteenth seed Paolini ended the run of Iga Swiatek’s conqueror Eala with a gritty 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 victory on Centre Court.
READ: Alex Eala’s historic Wimbledon ends vs Jasmine Paolini
“He’s my idol!”
A match Jasmine Paolini will always remember with @rogerfederer watching on from the Royal Box#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/1Uh95JxmKr
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 6, 2026
“I feel so lucky to have this chance and so lucky to get the win,” said Paolini, before addressing the watching Roger Federer within the royal box.
“He’s my idol and in the course of the match I used to be like please stay focused and don’t take into consideration him (Federer) being here… It’s a tremendous feeling to be here at once with the win.”
Paolini will face Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine in her first major quarter-final since reaching the Wimbledon final in 2024, when she lost to Barbora Krejcikova in three sets.
The Italian was also the French Open runner-up to Swiatek in 2024.
She has struggled for many of this season but has rediscovered her form on the All England Club since losing the opening set of her first-round match 6-0.
READ: Alex Eala targets Wimbledon quarterfinals, more history for Philippines
“After the primary set in the primary round I used to be like ‘Okay, it may possibly only go higher’… point by point, game by game, I used to be feeling higher,” Paolini added.
The 21-year-old Eala had develop into the primary woman from the Philippines to succeed in the third and fourth rounds of a Slam, but despite threatening a comeback within the second set, couldn’t get the higher of the wily Paolini.
The 30-year-old Paolini clinched a nip-and-tuck opening set with a break, having didn’t serve it out within the previous game.
After the players traded early breaks within the second set, twenty ninth seed Eala broke for a 4-3 lead after which held from 0-40 down in the following game.
The left-hander managed to shut it out to force a decider.
The vital moment of a nervy third set got here when Paolini broke within the eighth game, before serving it out confidently despite falling 0-30 down.