Alex Eala will face a fellow Grand Slam junior champion at the Pan Pacific Open as she takes on Mika Stojsavljevic in the first round in Japan.

The two youngsters have landed in the bottom half of the WTA 500 draw and their encounter has now been confirmed for Monday, 26 October with the match getting top billing as it will be the final match of the day on Centre Court.

Eala, of course, is seeded eighth as she is currently No 20 in the WTA Rankings with her rise coming on the back of winning her maiden WTA title at the Washington DC Open in August, while she also reached the fourth round at Wimbledon and the quarter-final of the Dubai Championships.

There is no doubt that the Filipina is one of the rising stars of the game at the age of 21 and on the opposite side of the net will be one of Great Britain’s exciting youngsters, Stojsavljevic.

Who Is Mika Stojsavljevic

Stojsavljevic was born on 15 December, 2008 in London to Peter and Ewa Stojsavljevic. Her father Peter is of Serbian descent, as he hails Velika Popina, Croatia, and her mother Ewa is from Warsaw, Poland.

The 17-year-old Stojsavljevic is currently at No 308 in the official rankings, well adrift of the career best of 261 that she achieved in June this year.

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Stojsavljevic turned pro in April 2024, just five months after she turned 15, and later in the year she won the US Open Girls’ singles trophy, beating Wakana Sonobe in final, with her title coming two years after Eala was crowned champion.

She made her WTA Tour debut as she earned a wildcard entry into the Pan Pacific Open.

Facing world No 57 Moyuka Uchijima, the British teenager – who was ranked NO 633 at the time – took the Japanese star to three sets before losing 6-4 6-7 (7-9) 7-6 (8-6).

Stojsavljevic made her Grand Slam debut as a wildcard at Wimbledon in 2025, losing in the first round while she also earned a wildcard entry into the 2026 edition.

Earlier this year, she told WTA Tennis that former world No 1 Maria Sharapova is her idol, explaining: “I definitely take inspiration from her game, and I just enjoy watching her play.”

Although she is yet to make her WTA breakthrough, she has reached the quarter-finals at the WTA 125K level as she reached the last eight at the Birmingham Open in June this year.

Stojsavljevic has one big win so far in 2026 as she defeated world No 56 Talia Gibson during Great Britain’s Billie Jean King Cup qualifier against Australia in April – and it was in straight sets.