Eala shoots for historic Miami Open quarters berth
MANILA, Philippines — Will Alex Eala’s magical run in the 2025 Miami Open continue?
The 19-year-old Filipina and the rest of the Philippines surely hope so.
After historic wins in the WTA 1000 competition, Eala will brace for her toughest test of her young career yet — making it to the quarterfinals.
Eala, ranked 140th in the world, will take on Paula Beads in the round of 16 Tuesday morning (Manila time). The former recently grabbed massive wins against World No. 25 Jelena Ostapenko and World No. 5 Madison Keys.
She is still yet to drop a set in this year’s Miami Open, and she is hoping to extend her winning streak continues.
But standing in Eala’s path to glory is Badosa, who is coming off a hard-fought two-set victory over Denmark’s Clara Tauson, 6-3, 7-6(3).
During that matchup, though, the Spanish, who was previously second-ranked in the world, seemed to be bothered by back injuries.
But against Keys, Eala herself was also hindered by an injury on her thigh that forced her to call for a medical timeout in the first set.
She bucked this injury, as she dug deep against the error-riddled Keys to become the first Filipina in the Open era to defeat a former Grand Slam champion at the WTA level.
Eala is also the first from the Philippines to defeat a top 10 player since 1990, according to the Miami Open website.
After the matchup with Keys, an emotional Eala said that she just "kept my head down and kept running."
"I knew she was gonna come out swinging and I had to keep my head down, be humble and stick with the plan that I've been working on,” she said.
She also voiced hope that her victory will take Philippine tennis "to another step.”
Whoever wins between Eala and Badosa will take on either World no. 22 Elina Svitolina or World No. 2 Iga Swiatek in the quarterfinals.
The Eala-Badosa match will be shown live on Blast TV app starting at 7 a.m. Tuesday. Its linear simulcast of Premier Sports 2 on all platforms including cable; Direct to Home; Blast TV app and connected TV like Samsung TV plus.
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