Poised Alex Eala scores first-round stunner over US foe in Miami Open

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Just when it looks like she’s about to fold, Alex Eala rallies in the tiebreak to shock her highly favored American foe, Katie Volynets, in the opening round of the Miami Open

MANILA, Philippines – Alex Eala stepped up to the plate in her biggest tournament this year and came out firing to put on her best performance yet for 2025. 

The Filipina teen scored a massive upset in the opening round of the Miami Open after defeating world No. 73 Katie Volynets of the United States, 6-3, 7-6(3), on Wednesday, March 19 (Thursday, March 20, Manila time).

With her stunning victory, Eala advanced to the round of 64 of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) 1000 event, where she will battle, arguably, the toughest opponent of her career — Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the world No. 25 and 2017 French Open champion — on Friday, March 21.

Most oddsmakers predicted a straight-set victory for Volynets. This was not without basis given that the 23-year-old American has had more big match experience and wins compared to the world No. 140 Eala. 

Volynets, who last year was ranked a career-high 56th in the world, has reached the third round of the Australian Open and the second round of the French Open and the US Open.

Eala, on the other hand, has made it to the second round of a WTA event just twice in her young career.

But the 19-year-old Filipina standout showed she was undaunted and beat the Ukraine-born Volynets in her own game. Eala matched Volynets penchant for long rallies and forced the American to play from the back foot the entire match. 

This was evident from the first set of their round of 128 tussle. From a 1-1 standoff, Volynets broke Eala in the fourth game to open a 3-1 lead. 

Eala then varied her play by occasionally rushing the net to catch her American foe scampering from corner to corner of the baseline. Responding with her own service break in the fifth game, Eala blanked Volynets the rest of the opener to pocket the first set, 6-3.

Eala carried over the momentum in the second set and looked poised to finish the match early when she jumped to a 5-3 lead. 

But Volynets showed the mettle of someone who holds victories over former top 10 players like Veronika Kudermetova and Mirra Andreeva of Russia, Ons Jabeur of Tunia, and Sofa Kenin of the United States. 

Volynets fought back to tie the count at 5-5, then sent the second set to a tiebreak where she zoomed to a 3-1 lead. 

Eala had trouble closing out after winning the opening set in her last two tournaments. But she would not allow that to happen at the hard courts of the Hardrock Stadium in Miami. 

The Filipina teen star showed great resolve and scored the next six points of the set to eliminate her highly favored foe after an hour and 52 minutes. – Rappler.com