Naomi Osaka moved into the third round of the US Open, but only after being pushed hard by Katerina Siniakova in a match shaped by serve problems.

The Japanese star twice held a set and a break lead, yet she could not close out the contest against the Czech player. Osaka was then broken three consecutive times and dropped the set 7-5 as her first serve repeatedly failed to land.

There was a reset after the second set, when Osaka took a toilet break, and the change was immediate. Her serve sharpened again in the decider and she powered through a 6-1 final set to secure her place in the next round.

Osaka’s uneven serving did more than threaten her own progress. It also prompted Tim Henman to revisit a broader question about tennis rules and whether changes could ease the burden on players who struggle on serve.

Speaking on Sky Sports Tennis, alongside Gigi Salmon and Naomi Broady, Henman said: “You wonder, it’s another rule that we probably discuss, whether you get rid of the let serve when the serve clips the top of the net.

“And whether you should only have one opportunity of throwing the ball up. If you throw the ball up, you’ve got to hit it. Well, you just wonder whether it might actually take away some of the pain.

“You’ve only got one chance, so here it goes. I wouldn’t say that your not allowed a second serve, but if you throw the ball up, you’ve got to hit it. If you miss the first serve, then you’ve got the second serve.”

The discussion is not new. Brad Gilbert has previously called the current rule “ridiculous”, while Patrick Mouratoglou has argued that tighter serve rules would create a better flow to matches.

Speaking to Tennis.com in 2025, Mouratoglou said: “The high number of aces and serve winners is detrimental to tennis. We want more rallies and less of these quick points—boom, serve, winner, ace, missed return. An occasional ace is fine, but not too many.”

Even with prominent voices calling for change, there is still no sign of the sport’s authorities moving on service rules, including long-running debates over let calls and the second serve.

Alex Eala’s 2026 campaign has become the defining stretch of her young career as she keeps moving up the WTA rankings and collecting results that place her firmly among the tour’s leading names.

After introducing herself more widely in 2025, especially with a run to the Miami Open semi finals, Eala has taken another step this season by consistently competing with established players. In 2026, she has recorded wins over Coco Gauff, Naomi Osaka, and Jessica Pegula, a sequence that helped carry her to the first WTA title of her career at the Washington Open.

The 21-year-old has also emerged as one of the WTA Tour’s most followed players around the world, a status that has remained visible during her time at the US Open. Much of that support comes from Filipino fans, and she will soon have another opportunity to play in front of a home audience before the season ends.

Eala is scheduled for an exhibition match in the Philippines in December, where she will meet Janice Tjen, the Southeast Asian player from Indonesia. Interest in the match is already substantial, with the event projected to draw one of the largest tennis crowds the country has seen.

Jessica Schiffer, of Hard Court, said: “Over 15k people have signed up for pre-sale access in the first few hours. The stadium fits 52,000 people and I’m told they’re expecting to break attendance records.”

Eala and Tjen are close friends on the WTA Tour and have also teamed up in doubles during the season. Their strongest run together came at the Abu Dhabi Open in February, when they reached the semi finals after beating Leylah Fernandez and Kristina Mladenovic, then Cristina Bucsa and Zhang Shuai, before falling to Olivia Nicholls and Tereza Mihalikova.

The Philippines match will not be Eala’s first appearance in front of local fans this year. She also played at the inaugural Philippine Women’s Open, where she reached the quarter finals of the WTA 125 event after beating Alina Charaeva and Himeno Sakatsume, then lost to eventual champion Camila Osorio.

That earlier event was well attended, but the December exhibition appears set to eclipse it by a considerable margin.

Alex Eala is on the cusp of the strongest US Open run of her young career as she prepares for her second-round match at Flushing Meadows.

The Filipino player already made a mark at last year’s event, when she went through to the second round after earning her first win at a major by defeating Clara Tauson in the opening round. Now she has the chance to move beyond that achievement when she faces Oleksandra Oliynykova in New York on Thursday, 3rd September.

Eala has again drawn significant attention at the tournament. Her first-round match on Louis Armstrong Arena attracted a full crowd, underlining the support she continues to receive.

Jim Courier, speaking on The Tennis Channel, said he hoped she could advance again and potentially set up a notable next-round contest.

“It’s incredible. When your life changes like this, and granted, she hasn’t won a big title yet, it will get even more exponentially, from a popularity standpoint, bigger for her should she do that, and she might someday, but even without that, she is transforming the culture of tennis, certainly, in her country, and bringing more fans under the tent,” said Courier.

“And I’ve got to tell you, if I’m the USTA, I would be so pumped if Eala makes the third round to play Iva Jovic, the young American who is equally impressive when you hear her speak. That would be a real showcase for not just the future of women’s tennis, but I think just the young present.”

A possible third-round meeting with Jovic would carry added history. The two have already met twice this season, and both times the American came out on top.

Jovic first defeated Eala in the opening round of Roland Garros, winning 6-4, 6-2. She later beat her again at Queen’s, this time 6-3, 6-2 in the round of 16.

Their partnership in doubles has also added another layer to the story in 2026. The pair reached the semi finals of the ASB Classic in Auckland at the start of the year, where they lost to Xu Yifan and Yang Zhaoxuan. They also played together at Indian Wells, but were beaten in the first round by Hailey Baptiste and Jelena Ostapenko.

For that third-round possibility to become reality, Eala must first overcome Oliynykova, while Jovic would need to get past Britain’s Fran Jones.