Teenager and prodigy Alexandra Eala performed a stunner at the ongoing Miami Open, when she knocked out five-time Grand Slam champion and second-seeded Iga Swiatek in the quarterfinals.
Entering as a wild card player, Eala is the only player representing her country Philippines in the prestigious tournament. Alexandra has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 134, by the WTA.
She is the highest-ranked Filipina singles player in WTA Tour history so far, a huge achievement in itself.
On March 26, she pulled off the biggest win of her young career with a remarkable 6-2 7-5 score to the Polish world number two Iga Swiatek. This victory has given her a chance to extend her dream run and advance into the semi-finals.
The 19-year-old left-hander received a wild card into the WTA 1000 event, entering the tournament ranked 140th. Despite being a teenager against the supremely talented Iga, Eala showed no signs of intimidation.
Playing against one of her idols, the athlete was painting a picture of poise as she broke Swiatek’s serve early on to grab control of the match and never looked back since then.
Eala reached her first WTA semifinals by beating her third major champion in around one hour and 37 minutes approximately. Along the way, she defeated 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko and reigning Australian Open champion Madison Keys, who is ranked No. 5.
“I’m in complete disbelief right now, I’m on cloud nine,” Eala expressed her joy in her on-court interview.
She hadn’t even beaten a top 40 player until Miami. After Swiatek hit long on the match point, Eala seemed teary-eyed as she looked up.
Swiatek, who was playing the match with added security after being verbally abused by a spectator at the weekend, failed to hold her serve throughout the first set, while Eala was swinging freely, savoring the moment as she moved around all over the court.
Though Eala represents the Philippines, she has lived for the last six years in Mallorca in Spain, training at the Rafael Nadal Tennis Academy. No wonder her training helped her during the big match day and proved that hard work does bear success.
“I would love to think that I make a difference,’’ Eala said. “That’s the only thing I can do to give back to my country is to help inspire, to inspire change and positive change, to inspire people to pick up a racket, to watch more tennis, watch more women’s tennis.’’
Swiatek held serve just twice in the match, with Eala pounding service returns with her big forehand. It marked Swiatek’s third loss to a player ranked outside the top 100 in a WTA main draw.
For the unversed, Miami Open, also termed as the ‘Miami Masters’, is an annual professional tennis tournament held in the United States, during the late March and early April period.
The tournament is part of the ATP Masters 1000 events on the ATP Tour and part of the WTA 1000 events on the WTA Tour.
Eala advances into Thursday’s Semifinals, where she will either face Jessica Pegula of the U.S. or the 2021 U.S. Open Champion Emma Raducanu of Britain, whoever seals the victory in the quarterfinal encounter between them.
By: Tulika Agarwal
