WITH hard work, blood, sweat, and tears, Pinay teen tennis sensation and world no. 140-ranked player by the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Alexandra “Alex” Eala is now the toast of the Miami Open, having dispatched one top-ranked player after another.
Eala, the 19-year-old tennis wonder from the Philippines and a Rafa Nadal Academy alum, just barged into the quarterfinals of the Miami Open after her opponent, Paula Badosa of Spain, ranked 11th in the world, withdrew because of a lower back injury.
She is being feted by fans and tennis enthusiasts around the world for her accomplishments in the tournament, having eliminated one higher ranked player after another, all in straight sets.
Eala sent world no. 73 player Katie Volynets of the US to the showers in the first round, then followed this up with a back-to-back masterful demolition of Jelena Ostapenko, the world’s no. 25-ranked women’s tennis player and 2017 French Open champion, and world no. 5 player and reigning Australian Open champ Madison Keys of the US, whose serve Eala broke at least six times.
The last two are accomplished players who both have Grand Slam championships. But perhaps, Eala didn’t mind as she matched them stroke by stroke and demolished them in straight sets on the way to that crucial meeting with Badosa.
And Eala already etched her name in history by being the first Filipino player to beat a Top 30 player, and then a Top 10 player, both in a single tournament.
But she should resolve to keep her giant-killing ways at the Miami Open intact as she is waiting for her next opponent in the quarters, either former world No. 1 (now No. 2) Iga Swiatek of Poland or world no. 22 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine. Experts are already anticipating Swiatek to prevail over Svitolina, which they believe will force Eala to dig deeper into her bag of skills to further up her game against a formidable foe in the quarterfinals.