MANILA – Filipina tennis star Alexandra Eala is heading into the quarterfinals round of the Miami Open on Monday night (Tuesday morning in the Philippines) without hitting a ball.
Eala was handed an outright round-of-8 slot after her Spanish opponent Paula Badosa withdrew due to a back injury hours before their scheduled match at the Miami Gardens in Florida.
“Not the way I would want to move on to my first WTA1000 QF. I wish Paula a speedy recovery. Looking forward to my match on Wednesday,” Eala wrote on a social media post.
With this development, Eala is now guaranteed to earn 215 points in the WTA rankings while her prize purse has ballooned to $189,075 or roughly P10.7 million.
Both the No. 140-ranked Eala and the No.10 seed Badosa came from dramatic round-of-32 victories on Sunday (Monday in the Philippines) to earn their place in the round-of-16.
The 19-year-old Eala, a wild card entry in the WTA 1000 competition, prevailed over No. 5 seed and former Australian Open champion Madison Keys in just two sets, 6-4, 6-2.
Badosa, on other hand, earned a dramatic 6-3, 7-6(3) victory over in-form Dubai finalist Clara Tauson, the No. 20 seed in the competition.
Eala, the junior US Open champion in 2022, had never previously won three consecutive matches at any tour-level event prior to this tournament – though the walkover from Badosa will not count towards her overall win-loss record.
Eala next will face the winner between No. 2 seed and former champion Iga Swiatek and No. 23 seed Elina Svitolina for a spot in the final four./PN
