Alex Eala celebrates a throng at Flushing Shaina Nitura (right) was unstoppable in Cebu. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO milestone victory before an adoring Meadows. —PHOTOS BY KEATS LONDON
Alex Eala thinks she has an entire grasp of the enormity of her latest accomplishment.
“Like I said, I take a lot pride in representing my country,” she told a press conference in Flushing Meadows, Latest York, after her milestone victory within the US Open. “It makes what I do larger than myself, and it gives—it adds intending to what I do.”
She has no idea.
The 20-year-old tennis star provided Filipinos the present-day heroine they badly needed on the identical day the country paused to reflect on the greatness of its past.
And what a relief she was.
Trudging through a third-set deficit that seemed too deep to extricate out of, Eala left world No. 15 Clara Tauson of Denmark stunned and frustrated after an epic 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (13-11) victory in the primary round of the 2025 US Open, just as National Heroes’ Day slowly crawled into the Philippine calendar early Monday morning.
The Seventy fifth-ranked Filipino battled out of a 1-5 deficit within the third set after which clawed her way out of a wobble within the tiebreak to grow to be just the primary Filipino to win a match at a Grand Slam singles tournament within the Open era.
“I’m super over the moon with what I used to be in a position to do today, especially coming back within the third. It’s a really special win for me,” Eala said.
“I used to be just so over the moon, and it was just such a rush of emotions,” she went on. “Like I said previously, I believe so many aspects made the match so special, and I’ve been on the losing side of, you realize, these tight tiebreaks before, so to be on the winning side, it’s very memorable, yeah.”
Imagine the enjoyment of those that kept the moon company until the wee hours of the morning just to observe her—and those that present in the sunrise news of her first Grand Slam singles win after a string of first-round exits.
Having faced a tough couple of weeks where government officials faced scrutiny over alleged flood control corruption and where journalists needed to reckon with integrity questions, Filipinos found a temporary moment to unite in celebration.
Asked what she felt her victory meant and what message it could send, Eala said: “[A]nything is feasible and, you realize, … dream big. I believe me as an individual, I’m very ambitious. Although there was nobody from my country who did this before or was successful in tennis, I took inspiration from anyone I could; from my family, from my brother.
“So I believe simply to be ambitious and to dream big and know you could do it, yeah.”
Tauson, flustered by a video review late within the match that went in favor of Eala, regained steam after blowing her huge third-set advantage and worn out Eala’s 8-4 lead within the tiebreak.
But Eala by some means managed to carry on. Against an opponent who dominated her with a robust serve (12 aces-to-none), Eala squeezed out one final rally ultimately, watching Tauson’s last return sail past the baseline before dropping to the bottom in what looked like a mixture of relief, joy and exhaustion.
“Oh, it means so much. I believe you may see by my response,” Eala said. “I believe every little thing just made it so special from who I used to be playing, a very good player, first round, the primary fundamental draw US Open, getting back from an injury. And clearly the entire individuals who watched today, the group was amazing.”
“I believe every little thing usually just made the atmosphere so, so exciting, but at the identical time, so tense. That’s also a part of why I’m so completely happy. I’m so blessed to be the primary to do that.”
But Eala isn’t about counting blessings at this point. Her second round match might be against either Spain’s Cristina Bucsa or American qualifier Claire Liu.
“I believe the important thing for my upcoming match is simply to are available with the identical mentality, same fight,” said Eala, who won quite a lot of hearts amongst TV viewers from this a part of the world when she was caught uttering what gave the look of a swear phrase after clinching some extent at the web.”
“Obviously I’ll prepare as needed. Right away I’m just focused on recovering,” Eala said. “That was a really tough match, but I believe this can help long-term, not only for now, yeah.” INQ
