Tennis is such an unpredictable game, and it cannot be denied that this has been the story so far in the Women’s Singles of the Miami Open as Alex Eala has gone to deliver one of the biggest wins of her career, taking down Iga Swiatek in straight sets to earn her ticket to the semis stage of the tournament so far.

It is an unprecedented feat for Eala, who continues to ride on a massive success in her games. No player has ever beaten a Grand Slam champion three matches in a row – and Eala made it look so easy after logging her second win against a top 10 player as well. No Filipino tennis player has ever managed to reach the semis of any Masters 1000 tournament, and yet here she is, proving her worth on the big stage.

A graduate of the Rafa Nadal Academy less than two years ago, Eala has been on a blazing push in her games as of late, and she even went on to deliver an impressive rally in her games so far. With her win against Swiatek, she is now guaranteed to be the first Filipina ever ranked in the top 100 of the WTA Rankings.

A Historic Pace

At the age of 19, Eala is now the first player from the Philippines to enter any tour-level semifinal, and is the third wild card to reach the last four in Miami, joining Justine Henin in 2010 and Victoria Azarenka in 2018 - both of whom were former World No. 1s returning from extended breaks. Eala, on the other hand, was ranked no. 140 before winning this clash with Swiatek.

“I'm in complete disbelief right now, I'm on cloud nine. It's so surreal," she said. "I feel like I'm the exact same person as I was in that photo. But of course, circumstances have changed! I'm so happy and so blessed to be able to compete with such a player on this stage ... My coach told me to run, to go for every ball, to take all the opportunities I can, because a five-time Slam champion is not going to give you the win."

This run by Eala also included wins over Grand Slam champions Jelena Ostapenko and Madison Keys, making her the second wild card to beat three Grand Slam champions since Elina Svitolina in Wimbledon 2023. Before her run in the Miami Open, Eala has not beaten any opponent in the Top 40, nor has she faced any Top 20 opponents.

Now, she has logged two top 10 victories as of late, and she’s on the semis of the prestigious Miami Open.

Breaking Barriers

Following her victory, Eala now becomes the third player to reach her first WTA semis in the Miami Open, joining Mary Joe Fernandez in 1988 and Danielle Collins in 2018. To be in this kind of company is a rare feat – something that would actually bring Eala to a promising pace in her games in the long run, and raise the Philippine flag.

Tennis isn’t a popular sport in the Philippines, and it is even less popular than badminton as a whole. The country is dominated by basketball for starters, and its national sport, arnis, isn’t as popular as tennis to begin with. So for Eala to win big in such a tournament against tough opponents – she is sure sending a strong message.

"I think I was so in the moment, and I made it a point to be in the moment every point that it's hard to realize what just happened,” Eala said. “It's hard to realize that you won the match. I really tried to soak it all in, because this has never happened to me before, and that's why I was looking at the screen. You know, I really wanted to keep that moment in my mind."