Alex Eala is living a life-long dream at the ongoing Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) 1000 Miami Open, an incredible progress that dragged the Philippines from obscurity to the spotlight of world tennis.
Just two weeks back, nobody paid attention to the Filipina prodigy who was entered in the tournament as a wildcard entry.
Now, all eyes are on the 19-year-old for crashing the party with a historic semifinal showing in a WTA meet by joining world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, No. 6 Jasmine Paolini and setting up a matchup with No. 4 Jessica Pegula.
On her way to the final four, Eala slipped past four of the Top 25 players in the world—upsetting three seeded players going up and winning by walkover against another that accelerated her phenomenal run.
Eala began her unbelievable journey by ousting Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, ranked No. 25 in the world and 2017 French Open champion.
Victim No. 2 was Madison Keys, currently crowned Australian Open titleholder and a former world No. 1 before sliding to No. 5 n the present rankings.
In the round of 16, Eala earned a walkover victory over world No. 11 and former world No. 2 Paula Bedosa of Spain prior to the most prominent victory of her career when she pulled off a giant upset over No. 2 and five-time Grand Slam winner Iga Swiatek in the quarterfinals.
“I’m loving the way I’ve been out there on court, I’m trusting my shots, and I have a great team to tell me that I can do it,’’ said Eala in a post-game interview after breaking serve eight times opposite Swiatek.
That stunning Swiatek overturn had Eala posting figures she never achieved since she began honing her skills to perfection in the Rafael Nadal Academy in Manacor, Spain as a 12 year old.
Under Nadal’s guidance, Eala became the first Filipina to win a junior Grand Slam singles championship and the only Filipina with multiple junior Grand Slam titles. She defeated No. 2 seed Lucie Havlickova of Czech Republic in the girls’ singles final of the 2022 US Open.
Eala also won the junior women’s doubles titles during the 2020 Australian Open and the 2021 French Open.
Apart from toiling in the WTA Tour where she had her share of feats and frustrations, Eala also took a bronze medal in the women’s singles of the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China and another bronze with Francis Alcantara in the mixed doubles of the same event.
From No. 140 in the world before Miami, Eala leaped to as high as No. 75 n the WTA live rankings, installing her comfortably inside the top 104 players who are seeded into this year’s three Grand Slams together with other WTA 1000 events of the season.
Eala might have missed out on the Australian Open last January, but will certainly appear in the next Grand Slams—the French Open in May, followed by the Wimbledon and the US Open in succeeding months.
The titanic leap was boosted by Eala’s 390 points after reaching the semis of the Miami Open, which offers 1000 ranking points to its champion and one of 10 events that lingers below the grands slams and the WTA Finals.
Eala gathered 524 points from 31 events prior to the Miami Open.
Financial rewards are likewise massive since Eala’s semifinal stint already assures the two-time Siklab Youth Sports Awardee a paycheck of US$332,160 (roughly P19 million) and could bump up to $597,890 (P34M) upon reaching the finals by defeating Pegula on Friday.
She could end up fattening her bank account by $1,124,380 (P64.5M) once Eala goes all the way to seize the title, a mammoth vault from her total earnings of $32,000 this season.
Team Eala has come a long way since her parents charted the course through sacrifice and dedication for their daughter to reach the pinnacle of success.
Their efforts have made the country proud by leaps and bounds as no Filipino netter had ever achieved Eala’s ongoing success.
Whatever the outcome of Eala’s meeting with Pegula, she already earned the adoration of an entire nation, making her doubly grateful of her heritage.
“I’m so lucky to have this country, this following and to be part of this community is something I wouldn’t trade for the world,’’ said Eala.