By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Alex Eala faces her biggest opponent so far in her young tennis career after arranging a quarterfinal date with five-time Grand Slam champion and world No. 2 Iga Swiatek at the 2025 Miami Open.
This, after the 19-year-old Eala marched into the next round without breaking a sweat after her fourth-round rival, world No. 10 Paula Badosa, withdrew due to lower back injury.
By making into the quarters, Eala is now guaranteed of mouth-watering $189,075 (around P10.8 million) purse.
And she profusely thanked all her supporters from all over the world for the sweet messages and love they gave.
“We’re still here! Thank you, thank you, thank you everyone for the support. Back to business (tonight),” Eala wrote on a social media post.
While she was glad to advance by default, she still wished Badosa speedy recovery.
“Not the way I would want to move on to my first WTA1000 QF. I wish Paula a speedy recovery. Looking forward to my match on Wednesday,” she added.
Eala and Badosa were slated to play Monday, March 24 (Tuesday morning, Philippine time) after coming off hard-earned wins in the third round.
In what could be her complete performance ever, Eala stunned reigning Australian Open champion Madison Keys, 6-4, 6-2, while Badosa needed a medical timeout early in her match before surviving Danish world No. 20 Clara Tauson, 6-3, 7-6 (3).
This would be Eala’s first Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Tour quarterfinal in six appearances including her last WTA1000 event at the Wuhan Open in China last year where she made a first-round exit.
She also competed in last year’s Miami Open, but bowed out in the second qualifying round.
A wildcard entry in this WTA1000 tournament, Eala is the only relatively-unknown player in the Last 8 as other quarterfinalists include 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu who will be against last year’s US Open finalist Jessica Pegula, 2023 Australian Open semifinalist Magda Linette versus two-time Grand Slam finalist Jasmine Paolini, and world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka against 2024 Australian Open finalist Zheng Qinwen.
Though Eala and Swiatek have never faced each other in any tournaments prior to this matchup, the two were no strangers.
At Eala’s commencement ceremony at the Rafa Nadal Academy in 2023, Swiatek was the guest of honor that accompanied Nadal.
Eala and Swiatek also shared a practice court once — coincidentally at the 2021 Miami Open where the Filipina lost in the first qualifying round and the Polish superstar, then 15th seed, finished in the Round of 32.
Swiatek, just four years older than Eala, boasts of an already illustrious career with four French Open titles and a 2022 US Open crown. A former No. 1 in 2022, she won the gold medal in the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina and a bronze medal at last year’s Paris Olympics.
She had semifinal finishes from the BNP Paribas Open, the Qatar Open and the Australian Open this year.
The match between Eala and Swiatek will be shown live on Blast TV app starting at 1 a.m. Thursday (March 27). Its linear simulcast of Premier Sports 2 on all platforms including cable; Direct to Home; Blast TV app and connected TV like Samsung TV plus.
