MANILA – Filipina tennis star Alexandra Eala pulled off the biggest win of her young career after ousting world No. 2 Iga Świątek, 6-2 7-5, in the quarterfinals round of Miami Open on Wednesday (Thursday in the Philippines) at the Miami Gardens in Florida.
Eala, a wild card entry in the competition, showed no signs of intimidation facing a five-time Grand Slam champion in Świątek by dismantling her serve early on to grab control of the match and never looked back.
“I don’t know what to say, I mean, complete just disbelief right now and I am on cloud nine,” the 19-year-old Eala said in her on-court interview. “It’s forever in my heart.”
Świątek failed to hold serve throughout the first set, where she had 19 unforced errors. In contrast, Eala was swinging freely as she unleashed winners from all over the court.
In the second set Eala managed to overturn a 4-2 deficit and then held her nerve while Świątek tried to serve out the set at 5-4 before ultimately closing it out with her eighth break of the match.
Świątek was the third Grand Slam winner Eala had knocked out of the women’s draw after earlier wins over Australian Open champion Madison Keys and 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko.
“My coach told me to run, to go for every ball, take all the opportunities I can — because a five-time Grand Slam champion (like Świątek) is not gonna give you the win,” Eala said.
Up next for Eala is fourth seed Jessica Pegula of United States, which defeated 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu of Great Britain, 6-4, 6-7, 6-2.
Meanwhile, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. expressed his personal joy over Eala’s performance, emphasizing that the government will persist in honoring Filipinos who bring pride to the nation.
“Isa po ito sa mga napakalaking tagumpay ng isang Filipino. Ang Malacañang at si Pangulo po ay ipinagmamalaki ang mga Filipinong nagbibigay ng karangalan sa Pilipinas,” Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary Atty. Claire Castro said in a media briefing at the Malacañang Palace on Thursday.
“Congratulations sa ating kababayan. At hindi po dito matatapos ang ating pasasalamat sa ating mga kababayan nating nagbibigay ng karangalan sa Pilipinas,” she added./PN
