Alex Eala made Filipino tennis history for the second time in two days Sunday, by knocking Australian Open champion Madison Keys out of the Miami WTA 1,000 event 6-4, 6-2.
Eala, 19, beat world No. 25 Jelena Ostapenko for the right to face Keys, which was her first career win against a top-30 opponent. She now has her second, and with it, the second-ever win over a top-30 opponent for any Filipino tennis player since the WTA Tour rankings for women’s tennis were first published in 1975.
“Growing up it was tough. … You didn’t have anyone from where you’re from to pave the way. Of course you had many people to look up to around the world, but I think — I hope this takes Filipino tennis to the next step,” Eala said on court after her victory.
Keys was coming off a chastening semifinal defeat to world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka at Indian Wells, but the American world No. 5 had still won 17 of her last 18 matches before facing Eala, who is the world No. 134. 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…
