Eala ready for big time tennis

MANILA, Philippines — It was one of those rare moments in sports when the loser was the one flashing a bigger smile.

Netting a return shot at match point, Alex Eala was calm and collected, and was soon in glee while giving back love to the adoring, cheering crowd early Friday morning at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.

She saw the end of her fairytale run in the Miami Open at the hands of Jessica Pegula but not without a big, big fight and not after pushing her world No. 4 rival to the limit in a three-set grind-out match lasting two hours and 26 minutes.

In dropping the last two games in the decider, Eala, a lovely young lady with a lovely game, barely lost the slam-bang match,  7-6 (3), 5-7, 6-3, and let Pegula escape blushes and enter the championship match against world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka.

An exhausted Pegula acknowledged the great fight put up by Eala and expressed admiration on the Filipino player she’ll likely to face some more now in the Tour.

“She’s really good; a really good tennis player. She goes for her shots, takes the ball early. She competes really well,” said Pegula. “She’s been one of the top players this week and I don’t really think she needs me to tell her that she’s a great tennis player. And she proved that tonight.”

Eala, 19 and merely a wild card bet, had become the story of the Miami Open with her run to the semifinals, highlighted by sensational wins over reigning Australian Open champion Madison Keys and former No. 1 Iga Swiatek both in straight sets.

Through the quarters, Eala became the first Filipino to defeat three Grand Slam champions, first to beat two Top 5 players, first to reach a WTA semis and first to make the Top 100 rankings.

Against Pegula, a veteran campaigner at 31 with seven singles career wins and finalist in the last US Open, Eala showed her kind of game, her resilience and character, fighting back from a first-set foldup and from a literal slip in the second frame only to lose the big points in the end.

And thus she saw the end of her magical run in the WTA 1000 event and missed the chance to vie for the crown versus Sabalenka, a dominant 6-2, 6-2 winner over Jasmine Paolini in the other semifinal match.

But even with the loss, Eala drew thunderous applause from the crowd as she soaked in a revelatory week at the Hard Rock Stadium with her mesmerizing tennis. 

For the nation, she’s a champion just for the breakthrough she had accomplished.

For her semifinal finish, Eala is to bank a cash purse of $332,160 (approximately P19 million) while also tucking 390 ranking points. She’s to crack the WTA Top 100 from No. 140, assured of a breakthrough first appearance in the French Open.

“I literally gave everything I had, I’m half taped, I’m like a mummy. I did everything and I have no regrets,” Eala said.

“To have a week like this, the stars need to align and they did this week, and hopefully I can keep that up – that is my goal now, to keep this up,” she added.

Eala looked to have the opening set wrapped up when she earned a set point but hit a bump with back-to-back double-faults pounded by Pegula to seize the momentum and eventually the set via tiebreaker.

In the second, Eala had her own turnaround, being everywhere on the court on time in a fightback from 1-3 down, curiously after a medical timeout where she was attended and her left foot taped. Moments earlier, she stumbled after twisting her foot while chasing a Pegula shot.

And Eala braved on, displaying her game as a big bomber lefty in engaging Pegula in a fierce battle. The Pinay’s final hurrah was taking the sixth game in the deciding set at love, sending the count at 3-3.

But Pegula held firm and soon had an opening of her own in the eighth game, outrallying Eala to earn a break point.

Serving in the ninth, Pegula blew away the first two points but then raced ahead on successive Eala errors. A final miss from Eala allowed Pegula through and into another titular showdown with Sabalenka.

For Eala, minus the championship match, her Miami week still spoke well of her rise, indicating she’s come of age and she’s ready for big time tennis.