2 days ago
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In the early hours of Friday morning, after nearly two weeks spent slaying giants, Alexandra Eala slumped in her chair inside the vast Hard Rock Stadium, her unforgettable run in Miami finally at an end. Before she could even begin to reflect on her mixed emotions of pride and disappointment, however, she was hit by a wall of noise.
The audience, still filled with Filipino fans at 12.45am, had opted to celebrate Eala’s achievements with a thunderous standing ovation. She responded immediately, raising both fists to the air and then blowing kisses to all corners of the stadium with a smile.
It was a moment she fully deserved. During her time in Miami, Eala compiled one of the most spectacular and surprising breakout runs of this century. A 19-year-old from the Philippines ranked No 140, she had entered the Miami Open with a wild card and few expectations. In her short career, she had won only two matches on the WTA tour and her form in 2025 had been unimpressive.
Simply winning her first-round match against the No 73 Katie Volynets marked this tournament as a success for Eala, but she just kept on going. She generated attention with her victory over Jelena Ostapenko, the mercurial 2017 French Open champion, then she forced the tennis world to take notice with her straight-sets win over Madison Keys, the reigning Australian Open champion and world No 5. With all eyes on Eala, she then engineered one of the great upsets in recent times, toppling the five-time grand slam champion Iga Swiatek to reach the semi-finals.
One week ago, no Filipina woman had ever defeated a grand slam champion. Eala scuppered three in succession. She then showed that those victories were no fluke by pushing Jessica Pegula, the world No 4, to the limit in an intense, bruising three-set battle.
While her run was a massive surprise, Eala’s talents have been known for some time. A lefthander with a tidy, intelligent counterpunching game, she won the US Open girls’ title in 2022. By 17, before she even broke into the top 100, she was a Vogue cover star. Eala has trained for years at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Mallorca, which made her win over Swiatek even more significant. Two years ago, Swiatek was the keynote speaker at her graduation and the pair posed for a photo alongside Nadal.
Before Eala, the highest ranked Filipina female tennis player, Maricris Gentz, reached No 284 in 1999. Alongside Eala’s talent, joy and composure, it has been equally interesting to see the Philippines suddenly have a horse in the race. Across the country, fans staged watch parties for her semi-final match against Pegula and a YouTube live stream alone drew more than 170,000 viewers at 9am on a Friday.
She departs Miami having entered a new world. As a trailblazer in such a big country with a famously passionate fanbase, ample endorsements await her and every step she takes in her career will generate significant interest. This is only the beginning, which is an exciting prospect for a talented young player, but one great tournament does not mean that her continued success is guaranteed. Her next steps, as she tries to build even more momentum in her career and handle the unavoidable pressure that comes with success, will be intriguing.
With its shock run finally ended, the women’s draw has culminated once again with a final that many predicted. Over the past year, the US Open, Cincinnati Open and now Miami Open – three of the five biggest outdoor hard-court events – have come down to finals between Aryna Sabalenka and Pegula. In the first two, Sabalenka overpowered Pegula with her more potent weaponry and greater weight of shot, winning each final in two tight sets.
While they have long established themselves as two of the best players in the world, the past few weeks have been significant for both. Sabalenka started the season by narrowly losing the Australian Open final to Keys, and she has rebounded brilliantly in the United States, also reaching the Indian Wells final, which she lost to Mirra Andreeva. In Miami, where she lives, the world No 1 has been in imperious form and she still has not dropped a set. As her disappointment after the Australian Open and Indian Wells showed, Sabalenka has reached a level of success where nothing but a title is acceptable.
After reaching her maiden grand slam final at the US Open before losing to Sabalenka, Pegula started this season slowly and failed to win three matches at any of the big events, the Australian Open and three WTA 1000 events this year. Although she has not faced a top 25 opponent en route to the final, Pegula has shown her mental toughness across her numerous tight three-set matches. Against the best player in the world, though, only her best level will do.
