Teenager Alexandra Eala pulled off another upset at the Miami Open when she knocked off five-time grand slam champion and second-seeded Iga Swiatek 6-2, 7-5 in the quarter-finals.
The 19-year-old left-hander, who received a wild card into the WTA 1000 event, is the only Filipino player on the professional tennis tour and entered ranked 140th.
During this history-making run, Eala reached her first WTA semi-finals by beating her third major champion, this time in 1 hour, 37 minutes.
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Along the way, she defeated 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko and reigning Australian Open champion Madison Keys, who is ranked No.5. That was Eala’s first win over a top-10 player.
Then, Eala won on a walkover in the fourth round over Paula Badosa, giving her added rest.
Swiatek broke Eala in the match’s first game, but the teenager broke right back. The first two games took 15 minutes to play.
On set point, Swiatek rapped a forehand long, ending the set in 42 minutes and putting Eala one set from the semi-finals, where she will face either Jessica Pegula of the US or Emma Raducanu of Britain, who play Thursday AEDT.
Though Eala represents the Philippines, she has lived the last six years in Mallorca, training at the Rafael Nadal Tennis Academy.
