Amy Lofthouse
BBC Sport at Wimbledon

Alexandra Eala's breakthrough moment came when she beat Iga Swiatek at the 2025 Miami Open.

Since then, Swiatek has become Wimbledon champion, while Eala has ridden the ups and downs of the WTA Tour and now plays here as a seeded player for the first time.

It'll be interesting to see how Swiatek manages against a player who has beaten her before, especially as when she feels stressed, her game can become messy.

Image source, BBC Sport

Jeff Tarango
Former American tennis player on BBC Radio 5 Live

Both of these ladies have perfect tosses for their serve. They throw up into the same spot every time regardless of where they're going to serve, and that's why we are still on serve here.

Elena Rybakina has had a break point but Elise Mertens' serve was that good she couldn't even touch it, and she is world number two, so they're just showing absolutely perfect technique here.

Elena Rybakina's forehand is doing some damage as she overpowers Elise Mertens early in the game.

The Belgian 25th seed gathers herself to edge ahead with a neat exchange of volleys at the net, before seeing out the game with an ace.

Rybakina continues to threaten on Mertens' serve but the Belgian has had the answers so far.

Here come the players. Iga Swiatek looks like she means business as she strides out, big over-ear headphones on.

Big cheers from the crowd on Centre Court. Play will be getting started soon.

Amy Lofthouse
BBC Sport at Wimbledon

Clare Balding just introduced the myriad of sporting royalty in the Royal Box today to the Centre Court crowd.

Someone behind me shouted “it’s coming home!” when Sir Gareth Southgate was introduced.

Ask Me Anything

Like every major sporting event, a lot of work goes on behind the scenes at Wimbledon to ensure a smooth operation for both players, fans at the courts, and audiences at home.

A big part of this is organising the daily match schedule, with nearly 700 matches taking place across the two weeks of the tournament.

Lots of you have questions on how it all works - and the All England Club have given us some answers.

Half a chance for Elise Mertens as she gets to 0-30 but Elena Rybakina's serving gets her out of trouble.

Mertens has a glorious chance to bring up a break point but plants a forehand into the net, before Rybakina secures the hold.

There's not much between these two so far.

Pam Shriver
Five-time Wimbledon doubles champion on BBC Radio 5 Live

Alexandra Eala is a leftie from the Philippines. I've seen her come up in the past few years after training quite a lot at the Rafael Nadal academy. She carries a lot of his discipline onto court, and it is interesting because they are both lefties.

She has really carried the burden of her home nation following her and supporting her everywhere she plays. I will be curious to see how many Filipinos will be making their way onto Centre Court today.

Czech 21st seed Marie Bouzkova has forced a deciding set against Russia's Liudmila Samsonova on court 12.

Bouzkova, who reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon in 2022, saved five break points across the second set before winning the tie-break.

A first double fault of the match marks a stutter for Elise Mertens as the game heads to deuce, before the Belgian goes into the net to offer Elena Rybakina break point.

Mertens fights back well to gain advantage, before polishing off a short rally with a brilliant forehand winner.

The Belgian clenches her first and raises it towards her coaching team.

Image source, Getty Images

Alexandra Eala has made history before a point is even played today.

The 21-year-old is first player from the Philippines ever to reach the third round at Wimbledon.

Her run has captured the imagination back home with viewing parties for matches and mainstream media coverage in the Philippines - a country obsessed with boxing and basketball.

On Saturday, Filipino fans will tune in to see whether she can beat defending champion Iga Swiatek and keep her Wimbledon dream alive.

"I think it's going to be tough for me. I'm going to try to make it tough for her, as well," Eala said of her match against Swiatek. "I'm expecting a great challenge. But I think I'm ready for it.

"For me to be able to represent the Philippines in Wimbledon, I guess, and in the biggest stages in the world, it means so much to me."

Image source, Getty Images

After the tears that followed her hard fought first-round win over Taylor Townsend, it was a far more relaxed Iga Swiatek on show on Thursday.

The defending champion was on control throughout her 6-1 6-3 victory over former finalist Karolina Pliskova, needing just 69 minutes to get the job done.

"The first round was really emotional for sure, but today I felt like it was another day in the office and I needed to be ready, be in charge and make good decisions," Swiatek said afterwards.

Next up for the Polish world number three is 29th seed Alexandra Eala of the Philippines.

After breezing through the first round, the 21-year-old had to come from a set down to beat Maya Joint in the second but that, too, turned into a fairly comfortable win as Eala dominated the second and third sets to triumph 3-6 6-2 6-0.

Elena Rybakina continues to serve well and despite a couple of wayward shots from the second seed, she secures the hold.

A long way to go yet for this to happen but if Rybakina meets top seed Aryna Sabalenka in the final and wins, she will replace the Belarusian as the top-ranked player in the world.

Pam Shriver
Five-time Wimbledon doubles champion on BBC Radio 5 Live

It is really interesting because match to match, you can see a really different Iga Swiatek. even within one match.

One of the things I'm looking at when I watch her play is the expressions on her face. When she advertises her anxiety, she gets a little too chatty with her coaching box, so there are a lot of telling signs.

I'm really curious about this first match-up on Centre Court.

Right then, we're just a few minutes away from the first action of the day on Centre Court.

Third seed - and last year's champion - Iga Swiatek will be expected to see of Filipino 29th seed Alexandra Eala as she attempts to extent her 27-match winning run against players outside the world's top 20 in majors.

However, it's one win apiece in their two previous meetings with Eala triumphing in straight sets in Miami last March before Swiatek won when they faced off in Madrid a few weeks later.

Elise Mertens' radar is off in the early stages as a couple of unforced errors offer Elena Rybakina two break points.

Mertens fights back to take the game to deuce, before two strong first serves sees the Belgian hold.

Coming through an early test like that will do Mertens' confidence a world of good.

Over on court three, Alex de Minaur has edged back in front against American Zachary Svajda.

Fifth seed De Minaur took the opening set but was pegged back in a tight second. The Australian regained control with four breaks of serve to race through the third set.

Can he get it done in four?

Centre Court (from 13:30 BST)

• Alexandra Eala (29) v Iga Swiatek (3)
• Amanda Anisimova (6) v Madison Keys (26)
• Grigor Dimitrov v Matteo Berrettini

Court One (from 13:00 BST)

• Elise Mertens (25) v Elena Rybakina (2)
• Marcos Giron v Alexander Zverev (2)
• Frances Tiafoe (17) v Alexander Bublik (10)

We're under way on Court One and it's a strong start from Elena Rybakina.

Elise Mertens shows what she can do with a superb backhand return winner but Rybakina's serving is otherwise spot on as the Kazakhstani second seed holds to 15.