Coco Gauff and Alexandra Eala’s secret weapons leave Indian Wells crowd divided | Tennis | Sport

Coco Gauff and Alexandra Eala will face off for the second time in their careers, less than three weeks after their first meeting in Dubai. But the dynamic will be very different in Indian Wells, where both women usually enjoy plenty of love from the fans. Gauff has the home-crowd advantage as an American player in Indian Wells, but Eala may as well be a home player, attracting huge crowds of Filipino fans wherever she goes.

That was certainly the case during the recent Middle East swing, where Gauff even defended Eala’s vocal supporters, despite playing against the crowd in Dubai. But both women feel the benefits of having loud fans behind them during Indian Wells. And they may well leave the crowd divided when they meet in the third round on Sunday.

Eala only made her Indian Wells debut this year after enjoying an incredible breakthrough in 2025. She came to the Californian desert as the No. 31 seed and got a bye into the second round, where she outlasted Dayana Yastremska, digging out a 7-5 4-6 7-5 victory in two hours and 43 minutes, largely spurred on by the crowd.

The 20-year-old later paid tribute to those who came out to cheer for her. However, Eala is still expecting to lose that support when she faces Gauff on Sunday, as she believes the spectators in Indian Wells will get behind one of their own.

“It means the world to have this community behind me in such a prestigious tournament. For them to make the effort to stay up late and stay in the cold and cheer me on, so it really added to the feelings and the emotions after the match, yeah,” Eala said after winning on her Indian Wells debut.

Eala suffered a bruising 6-0 6-2 defeat to Gauff in Dubai last month, but she’s still up for the challenge of facing the two-time Grand Slam champion – even if the crowd get behind her opponent. She added: “I’m excited. It was a tough match for me last time. I think she played really well. So all I can do is take the learnings that I have from our last match and try to implement that in our next one, yeah.

“It’s not my first huge match. I think it’s definitely going to be a tough one. Coco is an amazing player and playing at home. I’m expecting, you know, a big crowd to rally behind her just because she’s amazing. But it’s like every other match. You know, today I had to dig really deep, so I’m expecting that the next match I have to do even more, you know. So I’m ready, and I’m looking forward to it, yeah.”

Gauff also had a test in her opening match in Indian Wells, coming back from 2-5 down in the second set to beat qualifier Kamilla Rakhimova 6-3 7-6(5). The world No. 4 was later asked whether she deliberately drew on the home-crowd advantage when competing in the United States. Although Gauff doesn’t use them tactically, she knows the spectators give her a boost.

“Yeah, I don’t really strategically use it. I think only if I hit a great shot then I’ll, like, do my hand and tell them to get louder. It’s not something I really strategically think of, but I definitely think the crowd does help. More so, I don’t think they affect the opponent. I think it’s just more so a pick-me-up for you,” she explained.

“Sometimes hearing a couple extra cheers can stop the negative thoughts about yourself. I definitely think having the home crowd can change the way you approach the match or approach the next point, for sure.”

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