Eala digs deep to survive McNally as win streak continues
MANILA, Philippines — Caty McNally is for real.
But Alex Eala is the real thing.
In a match that had everything — quality tennis, brutal exchanges, momentum swings, an aching ankle, and two players who simply refused to yield — Eala dug deeper than ever to survive McNally, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, and punch her ticket to the Last 16 of the National Bank Open in Toronto, Canada on Saturday (Philippine time).
It was, perhaps, the toughest of Eala’s recent triumphs, made even more remarkable by the fact that she was up against a player ranked No. 70 in the world.
McNally certainly did not play like one.
The American matched Eala’s power with her own aggressive game, absorbed the Filipina’s relentless returns, found ways to disrupt her rhythm and, every time Eala appeared ready to pull away, came charging back.
She made Eala earn practically every point.
In fact, McNally proved every bit as formidable as Linda Noskova — the higher-ranked Czech — and reigning Wimbledon champion — whom the American had knocked out in the previous round — and showed that Eala could not have expected an easier path had she faced Noskova herself.
If anything, this was a different kind of examination for Eala — not simply a test of her tennis, but of her body, nerve and ability to keep believing when the match began slipping away.
“I’m okay,” Eala said almost immediately after the two-hour, 39-minute battle at Center Court of the Sobeys Stadium.
Then, gathering her thoughts, she added: “Yeah, I think I survived. It was so tough.”
She wasn't exaggerating.
Eala had appeared firmly in control after battling back from 1-3 down to take the next five games and the opening set, using her heavy groundstrokes and penetrating returns to keep McNally under constant pressure. But the American refused to fold.
And then came the ankle scare.
With Eala leading in the second set, she paused, removed her shoes and checked her right ankle. She eventually played on and earned another break, but sought a medical timeout at the changeover for treatment.
The interruption changed the complexion of the match.
After the treatment, Eala struggled to regain the fluid movement that had allowed her to dictate the exchanges. She visibly favored the ankle, particularly when forced to move laterally, and McNally immediately sensed an opening.
The American broke back to level the set at 3-all and then moved ahead.
Eala took another medical timeout at the break, removed the tape from her ankle and returned to hold serve at love, drawing a roar from her supporters.
Still, McNally would not let go.
Eala summoned everything she had to break in the ninth game and put herself in position to serve for the match, only to see McNally respond with the kind of gritty, unyielding tennis that had carried her past Noskova.
Eala could not close it out.
Mishits crept into her game. McNally kept pressing. The American eventually broke back and completed the comeback to force a decider.
For a player dealing with an ankle problem, having just surrendered a set she was serving to win and facing an opponent gaining confidence by the minute, the situation could easily have unraveled.
Instead, Eala came out for the third set with a different kind of resolve.
She broke McNally in the opening game.
And this time, she refused to give the lead back.
McNally threw everything at her. Eala answered with power from both wings, counterpunching when she had to and attacking whenever the opportunity presented itself.
The biggest test came in the fourth game, when McNally raced to a 30-lead and threatened to immediately erase the deficit.
Eala stayed composed.
She countered, forced errors and fought through the pressure to hold for a 3-1 lead — a crucial stand that effectively set the tone for the remainder of the decider.
From there, the two traded holds, McNally repeatedly showing the fight that had made her such a dangerous opponent while Eala increasingly looked like the player who has spent the past several months learning how to survive precisely these moments.
McNally refused to surrender, cruising through the ninth game to keep the pressure on.
But Eala was no longer looking back.
With the crowd behind her, she dug deeper, found another gear and finally earned another chance to serve for the match.
This time, she knew exactly what she had to do.
She opened with two points built around a strong 1-2 combination and a clever drop shot that ended a long, pressure-packed exchange.
A wide backhand gave McNally a brief opening, but the American could not capitalize. Two more points went Eala’s way on McNally errors, the last a forehand that sailed long.
Game, set, match.
Eala had survived.
And the emotion of the moment told its own story.
There was no racket drop. No celebratory leap. No exuberant racket clap that had greeted some of her biggest victories.
Instead, Eala simply covered her face with her right hand, fighting back tears.
She knew how close she had come to losing.
She knew McNally had played well enough to win.
And she knew she had somehow found a way through.
Eala exchanged a lengthy, warm conversation with McNally before rising to applaud the American as she made her way toward the exit, a fitting acknowledgment of an opponent who had pushed her to the limit.
“I want to thank Caty for a great match, being a great sport,” said Eala. “It’s one of those matches that really could’ve gone either way. I think it was really down to details and a little bit of luck, so give her flowers, guys. It was really a great match.”
It was an unusually subdued celebration for Eala, but perhaps the most revealing one.
This was not simply another win.
It was a victory carved out through pain, pressure and uncertainty – another demonstration of the resilience, grit and poise that have fueled her remarkable rise.
And the emotions continued to spill over when she turned to the crowd that had carried her through the latest chapter of what is now a seven-match winning streak, including the five victories that delivered her a historic WTA title in Washington last week.
“These two weeks have been incredible for me,” said Eala, her voice thick with emotion. “So many extreme emotions and I’m really doing my best to power through and be professional and do what I know how to do.”
Then she paused.
“To play in front of you guys, it’s amazing.”
The moment became even more personal when Eala recalled hearing someone in the crowd say they “wanted to be Filipino for tonight.”
“The motivation to come here and play another match — everything becomes so much more emotional,” she said.
“The Canadians have been very hospitable to me, they’re amazing these past couple of days, so I really hope that Canadians also get that feeling of hospitality from Filipinos.”
For all the numbers surrounding the match — the rankings, the 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 scoreline, the 2:39 duration — Eala's victory ultimately felt bigger than statistics.
McNally showed why she is a dangerous player and why her win over Noskova was no fluke. She stood toe-to-toe with Eala, attacked her weaknesses and refused to disappear even when the Filipina appeared to have the match under control.
Eala, meanwhile, showed something perhaps more important than another victory — the ability to win when everything is not going her way.
Her ankle hurt. Her rhythm disappeared. Her opponent kept coming. Her first chance to serve out the match slipped away.
Yet when the decider arrived, Eala found the fighting heart that has become one of the defining features of her meteoric rise.
“I think I survived,” she said.
She did much more than that.
She survived McNally's power and persistence, survived the physical scare and survived the emotional swings of a match that could easily have gone the other way.
Now comes another stern examination.
Eala advances to a Last-16 showdown with No. 12 seed Belinda Bencic, who also survived a major scare in her own third-round battle, edging giant-killer Taylor Townsend, 6-7(5), 7-6(4), 6-4.
But after what she went through against McNally, Eala will arrive with something more valuable than momentum.
She will arrive knowing that when the match gets ugly, when the body hurts and when an opponent refuses to yield, she can find a way.
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