Teenage Eala takes care of business with little drama

MIAMI GARDENS, Florida — If tennis' broadcasters were hoping for emotional scenes of tears from teenager Alexandra Eala after she secured one of the biggest upsets of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) season, they were left disappointed.

But the final point, as she broke the serve of world No. 2 Iga Swiatek, for the eighth time, revealed much more about the Filipina than any waterworks would have.

Eala's face quivered, on the edge of tears, as she began to process the magnitude of her victory, which sent her into the semifinals of the Miami Open, but she kept her emotions in check, composed herself and celebrated in a controlled manner before calmly and diligently undertaking her post-match duties.

"I think I was so in the moment, and I made it a point to be in the moment at every point that it's hard to realize what just happened. It's hard to realize that you won the match," she said, when asked about her immediate emotions after beating the five-time grand slam winner.

"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," she added.

In the biggest game of her career on the WTA Tour, Eala played with a poise that belied her inexperience but underscored an impressive level of preparation for such a moment.

On Wednesday, Eala defeated world No. 2 Iga Swiatek, 6-2,7-5, to reach the semifinals, where she will face American Jessica Pegula, a 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-2 winner over Emma Raducanu of Britain.

Ranked 140th in the world, Eala, the first woman from the Philippines to reach the last eight of a WTA 1000 tournament, took advantage of an unusually poor display from Swiatek, keeping her focus as she fought back from 4-2 down in the second set.

Eala broke the Pole for the eighth and final time when Swiatek was serving to stay in the match at 6-5 down in the second set and looked stunned as she struggled to contain her emotions.

"I'm just in disbelief right now. It's so surreal," she said in court.

"I'm so happy and so blessed to be able to compete with such a player on this stage," said Eala, who has now beaten three grand slam winners on her route to the last four at Miami — having dealt with Jelena Ostapenko and Madison Keys before upsetting four-time French Open champion Swiatek.

"I'm trusting my shots, and I have a great team to tell me that I can do it," she said.

"I don't have a lot of experience on the WTA Tour, that's for sure, but I do have experience with compartmentalizing. I have experience with being professional," she said.

"I have no hesitation to bring that part of me out when I'm on court and when I'm in a setting that calls for professionalism," she added.

Swiatek held serve just twice in the match, with Eala pounding service returns with her big forehand. It marked Swiatek's third loss to a player ranked outside the top 100 in a WTA main draw.

"Her being a lefty didn't surprise me, but for sure, like, she went all in," Swiatek said. "She made these returns in and pretty long, and so it wasn't easy to hit it back. She was pretty loosened up and just went for it."

Business-like

Eala has been in a professional setting since she was 13, when she left her homeland to join Rafael Nadal's academy in Mallorca.

For the past six years, she has lived and breathed tennis alongside top coaches and a group of players all hoping to make the journey onto the tour.

But she says her noticeably business-like approach was gained more from her family rather than the daily regime in Spain.

"It's not something I learned in the academy. It's something I've gotten from, I guess, from my experience as the things I have been through leading up to this moment. It's also something my family has guided me through, it's part of my family's values," she said.

"They are successful people in business, they are successful in their own fields and people I look up to. I think they lead by example when it comes to that."

The twin influences on her career were evident in her box — her parents had flown in from the Philippines for the game as had an uncle and cousin based in Seattle but with them was Toni Nadal, the Spanish great's uncle and former coach, representing the academy.

"So a lot of extra motivation for my match today. I really wanted to have my family see me winning, but I know they'd be happy just to see me compete in this setting.

"And Toni also came to Miami. That did mean a lot, because I have been working closely with him for so long, alongside my main coaches from the academy, it showed a lot about the confidence and the pride the academy has in me," she added.

There was still time for her to reflect on an old photograph of her meeting Swiatek at a graduation event at the academy two years ago and to express her hope that her win would inspire youngsters in her homeland to take up the sport.

There have been many teenagers making dramatic entrances into the elite level of the WTA over the years, some have flourished, some have fallen away quickly, but few will have arrived with such a self-assured professionalism as the 19-year-old from Quezon City.

Malacañang on Thursday hailed Eala for pulling off a major upset in the Miami Open to advance to the semifinals, the first Filipina to do so.

"This is one great achievement of a Filipino. Malacañang and the president are indeed proud of the Filipinos who bring honor to the Philippines," Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary Claire Castro said in Filipino in a briefing.