PH’s Alex Eala shocks world No. 5 Madison Keys

By Tracy Cabrera

MIAMI, Florida — It was not suppose to be but the unexpected happened a huge under when she entered the tournament, Filipina prodigy Alexandra ‘Alex’ Eala, 140th in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA)’s international rankings, shocked world’s number 5 Madison Keys of the United States in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2, in their match up on Sunday at the Miami WTA 1000 Open. 

Prior to the face off with the Australian Open champion, Eala had scored an upset victory over the world’s number 73, Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia after recovering from a 0-4 hole in the opening set to carve out a 7-6, 7-5 triumph. 

Reflecting after the win over the French Open champion, the 19-year-old Pinay tennister, who once trained in the Rafa Nadal Tennis Academy in Mallorca, Spain, enthused: “I just had to believe.”

And Eala’s triumph over Keys can be considered the biggest win of her career. 

“I am super overwhelmed right now. I’m still trying to process. This win means so much to me . . . It leaves me wanting more,” she exuded on the sideline of her victory over Ostapenko and now over Keys. 

The American champion was coming off a chastening semifinal defeat to world’s number 1 Aryna Sabalenka at Indian Wells, but Keys had still won 17 of her last 18 matches before facing Eala. They traded breaks of serve for six of the first seven games, before Eala broke Keys’ serve at 5-4 to snatch the first set.

From then on, Eala took over the match, breaking the American twice at 3-2 and 5-2 to pull off the biggest upset of the tournament yet. As Keys missed a rudimentary inside-out forehand wide, her opponent screamed out in triumph at the best win of her career to date.

Eala, the 2022 U.S. Open girls’ singles champion, moved to the Rafael Nadal academy in Manacor, Mallorca when she was 13. She is still attempting to become the first Filipina tennis player to reach the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament, having previously lost in the final round of qualifying at three separate majors.

Keys’ exit makes her the third top-10 WTA player to exit the tournament, after compatriot Emma Navarro’s three-set defeat to Emma Raducanu and Elena Rybakina’s upset at the hands of another American, Ashlyn Krueger. 

Eala will face today the world’s number 2 Paula Badosa of Spain in round four.