Alexandra Eala continued her history-making run at the Miami Open on Wednesday, shocking world No. 2 Iga Swiatek, 6-2, 7-5 to reach her first WTA 1000 semifinal.
“Miami, you have my ❤️,” Eala wrote on the camera lens following the milestone victory.
At 19 years old, Eala already became the first Filipino player to score a Top 10 win since the rankings began in 1975 when she stunned Australian Open champion Madison Keys earlier in the week; with “Uncle” Toni Nadal watching from the slidelines, the teenaged wild card scored an even more emphatic win over Swiatek to advance in one hour and 39 minutes at the Hard Rock Stadium.
Where Eala, who trains at the Rafael Nadal Academy, has been on the ascent, Swiatek has struggled to match the blistering pace she set this time last year when she scored 1000-level victories in Doha and Indian Wells. Though she improved on her result in Melbourne with a semifinal finish, she failed to defend her 2024 titles and responded to criticism following an incident of perceived aggression towards a ball boy at the BNP Paribas Open.
“Usually, I control such impulses,” Swiatek said of her frustrations in a lengthy Instagram post, “so half-jokingly I can say I lack experience in this and misjudged my aim in the heat of the moment.”
