NEW EPISODE: The Alex Eala Interview
Plus: The latest from Miami
Context-free soundbite: “You’re so mature. Are you actually, like, 47?”
You love her, we got her. World No. 29 Alex Eala joins Andy and JW this week for a 30-minute chat on her meteoric rise up the rankings and her emergence as a national hero in the Philippines.
Eala didn’t defend her semifinal run at the Miami Open this week, but we can report that she has a healthy relationship with competition—and a solid support system, including Zeynep Sonmez, who broke down Eala’s game on Love All recently.
There’s more Served coming your way this week!
Love All with guest Gabriela Sabatini on Wednesday
Q&Andy on Thursday
5 Setter on Friday
Enjoy the new episode, then come back here for this week’s bonus stories.
The stats behind one big result
Hailey Baptiste def. Elina Svitolina 6–3, 7–6
Miami Open third round
On a weekend full of upsets, Baptiste scored the biggest win of her career, beating a red-hot Svitolina with aggressive returns and exquisite volleys to set up a quarterfinal match against Aryna Sabalenka.
8
Svitolina’s ranking
20
Match wins for Svitolina this season, the most of any WTA or ATP player
5
Break points converted by Baptiste, out of 6
73%
First-serve points won by Baptiste, up from her season average of 65%
28
Winners for Baptiste, to Svitolina’s 15
15
Net approaches by Baptiste, winning 9 (60%)
10
Three-set matches Baptiste played this year coming into Miami, out of 14 total matches
0
Sets Baptiste has dropped at the Miami Open
The latest stories that matter right now
Big Foe’s Big Win
After we taped this episode, Frances Tiafoe proved that sometimes numbers do lie, actually. The stat sheet for his third-round upset of Jakub Mensik does not look like a 7–6, 3–6, 7–6 victory for the American.
Mensik, the defending champ, led nearly every important metric:
Tiafoe won two categories: unforced errors by 22 and pressure points by 1. But Mensik out-aced Tiafoe 22 to six, nearly wiping out Tiafoe’s advantage on unforced errors.
One pressure point made the difference, at least statistically. A pressure point is a critical point—when the returner is one or two points from winning the game and either tied or ahead of the server. So love–30, 15–30, deuce, etc.
Beyond the stat sheet, Tiafoe eked out a few more points in the tiebreak. The first set’s was 7–4 and the third’s was 13–11. Tiafoe won the match on his seventh match point. Mensik had two of his own in the last tiebreak.
After two hours and 51 minutes, Tiafoe had the 250th win of his career. He will play Terence Atmane today.
This was the match when Tiafoe’s decision to shut down last season early and reset paid off. He discussed the approach on Served in December.
The Vamos Kids
With Carlos Alcaraz’s loss to Sebi Korda on Sunday, the highest-ranked Spaniard left in the Miami Open is Martin Landaluce, ranked No. 151. The 20-year-old Next Genner is making noise in Miami by qualifying and beating two Top 20 opponents. Next up: Korda in the fourth round today.
Landaluce, the 2022 US Open junior champ from the Rafael Nadal Academy, won his first pro match in Miami two years ago. Since then, he has won two ATP Challenger titles and been ranked as high as No. 110 in the world. Landaluce and Alcaraz have the same agent, Albert Molina, who spotted the Madrid native a few years ago, according to the Spanish newspaper Marca.
Despite Landaluce’s pedigree, it’s hard to say anyone saw his Miami run coming. Until this week, Landaluce was a little overshadowed by 19-year-old Rafael Jodar, the 2024 US Open junior champ. The two grew up playing together, and Jodar beat Landaluce at the ATP Next Gen Finals last year and sits 42 spots higher in the rankings at No. 109.
The two were running neck and neck in Miami. Both qualified, made the third round and faced opponents who had won tournaments last month in South America. Jodar lost, while Landaluce beat No. 17 seed Luciano Darderi and No. 19 seed Karen Khachanov to become the lowest-ranked man to make the Miami Open fourth round since 2009.
Another Spanish kid stole some limelight from across the pond over the weekend. You may have heard of him already: Jaime Alcaraz, the 15-year-old brother of Carlos.
Jaime won a 15-and-under tournament in Spain— with a fully improvised backward flicker Magoo after running down a drop shot, then a lob. He looked every bit like his brother’s flair apparent.
Andy will react to the hot shot—and Korda’s big win—in next week’s Miami Open recap.
Wimbledon Expands Video Review
Over the weekend, Wimbledon announced that it will add more electronic review capabilities—on the six biggest courts only. Players on the other courts won’t have the ability to challenge umpire calls like double bounces and hindrances.
The imbalance puzzles the Served team. JW and Producer Mike unpack it in this week’s episode, and Andy will discuss it on an upcoming show.
The tournament tiptoed into the future last year by implementing automated Hawk-Eye line-calling. Until then, human officials still called the lines and players could challenge by requesting a Hawk-Eye review. The tournament said players provided feedback last year and want more electronic line-calling (ELC), which led to this year’s six-court expansion.
Wimbledon wasn’t the last holdout on ELC. The French Open still hasn’t implemented any of it because officials believe the technology isn’t accurate enough on clay. Players can challenge a line call via the mark, but not a double bounce, net touch, hindrance or foul shot (contacting the ball on the opponent’s side of the net).
Pity the players who have to keep this straight:
US Open and Australian Open: ELC and video review of umpire calls on all courts
Wimbledon: ELC on all courts, video review of umpire courts on six courts
French Open: No automatic ELC or video review
Stay tuned for next Tuesday’s episode to see if Andy agrees with the Chuckers.
Perfect Delivery
Rei Sakamoto won us over with his trademark samurai celebration in the first round (see it below), then he made us fans for life when the on-court interviewer asked him to do it again.
🎤 Rei Sakamoto
“I can’t do it now. For me, it is sacred. I only draw the sword when the battle is won on the court. To do it here, without the sweat and the fight, would be a fake. It belongs to the moment, not the interview.”
The moment on Friday definitely earned the sword draw (called a katana). Sakamoto, the 2024 Australian Open junior champion, won his first ATP Tour match 6–4, 3–6, 7–6 (7) over Aleksander Kovacevic.
The 19-year-old lost in the second round to Daniil Medvedev, but took the first set in a tiebreak. Ranked No. 164, he got on the practice court this week with Jannik Sinner thanks to his Italian coach Federico Ricci’s connections.
Practice your katana. We will be saluting this warrior in the future.
5
Top 20 wins for Talia Gibson this month
The 21-year-old Australian, ranked No. 68, won 11 of her 13 matches during the Sunshine Double. Except for Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina and Jessica Pegula, she might have had the most impressive run on the WTA Tour this month.
Gibson qualified for Indian Wells—fighting off a match point along the way—and reached the quarterfinals, where she lost to Linda Noskova. Then she qualified for the Miami Open and made the fourth round.
Before losing to Rybakina last night, Gibson powered past five Top 20 players:
Ekaterina Alexandrova in Indian Wells, 6–3, 7–5
Clara Tauson in Indian Wells, 7–6, 4–6, 6–4
Jasmine Paolini in Indian Wells, 7–5, 2–6, 6–1
Naomi Osaka in Miami, 7–5, 6–4
Iva Jovic in Miami, 6–2, 6–2
It’s one thing to pull off an upset, but backing it up again and again is another.
“Just to be able to keep going through these matches without draining yourself mentally, that’s huge,” Tennis Channel’s Prakash Amritraj said while previewing Gibson’s match against Rybakina.
Gibson started the year ranked No. 118. She reached the doubles quarterfinals at the Australian Open with fellow Aussie Kimberly Birrell, beating No. 2 seeds Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini. Then she rattled off 10 wins at WTA 125 and ITF events in February. As we seem to say every week, winning begets winning.
Gibson is projected to rise to around No. 56 next week.
Quick Hits
With her win over Sorana Cirstea yesterday, Coco Gauff became the youngest player to make the quarterfinals of the 10 current WTA 1000 tournaments. (OptaAce)
Victoria Mboko is the youngest WTA player to make both Sunshine Double quarterfinals in the same year since Caroline Wozniacki 17 years ago. (TNT Sports)
Learner Tien—who didn’t know until last week that his coach, Michael Chang, won the Miami Open—hinted that he’s skipping the clay season, which makes you wonder if Tien knows Chang won Roland Garros, too. (The First Serve)
The Italian Open in Rome will have new stadium in May.
Lately, the ATP and Dominic Thiem have acted coy about the 2020 US Open champ returning to tennis as a coach. The teases were for the ATP Fantasy league, launching at the Masters 1000 in Monte-Carlo next month, with fans trying to beat Team Thiem. (ATP Tour)
Ons Jabeur, still the Minister of Happiness. ⬇️
PADEL: World No. 1s Arturo Coello and Agustin Tapia bring an 18-final streak to Miami’s top-tier event this week after surviving a 6–7, 6–3, 7–5 thriller against Juan Lebron and Leo Augsburger in the Cancun final last week. All eyes are on a potential semifinal rematch in Florida.
PICKLEBALL: The PPA Tour hits Utah this week for the Greater Zion Cup with a massive 1,500 points on the line. Watch for Will Howell’s return from injury and the high-power debut of the Jack Sock and Lea Jansen pairing as players scramble for May Finals spots.
TABLE TENNIS: Teenagers dominated WTT Chongqing as 17-year-old Miwa Harimoto of Japan became the youngest-ever Champions winner after a seven-game epic against Kuai Man. Meanwhile, 19-year-old Frenchman Felix Lebrun defeated Wen Ruibo for his first title in China, a major milestone in the sport.
SQUASH: India’s 18-year-old star Anahat Singh defended her Indian Open title Sunday with a 3–1 win over Hana Moataz, cementing her status as the youngest Asian player to crack the Top 20. The 16-time PSA winner is now being hailed as a premier gold medal prospect for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
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