MANILA, Philippines – A few years ago, Iga Swiatek met a young girl from the Philippines named Alex Eala, who was one of the top students at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Mallorca, Spain.
Swiatek, then the world No. 1 in women’s tennis, trained a number of times at the academy due to her friendship with her idol and sports legend Rafael Nadal. In those visits, a wide-eyed Eala had the chance of a lifetime to practice with the star from Poland.
When the Filipina teen graduated from the academy in 2023, Swiatek, fresh from winning the French Open, graced the rites as special guest.
On Thursday, March 26, Eala and Swiatek meet again, but this time on a bigger stage.
The 19-year-old Eala, the best tennis player to come out of the Philippines in the modern era, hopes to continue her unprecedented run in the Miami Open when she battles Swiatek, arguably the best player in the post-Serena Williams era.
Eala and Swiatek fight for a semifinal spot on Wednesday morning, March 26 (Wednesday, 11 pm, Philippine time).
The Filipino wildcard bet has been the talk of the tennis world after tearing up the top-ranked opposition in the first three rounds — including world No. 5 and reigning Australian Open champion Madison Keys and former French Open winner Jelena Ostapenko — all in straight sets.
For Eala, this impressive run in Miami has been a long time coming.
She debuted in the Miami Open in 2021 and lost her first match in the qualifying round. She was granted wildcard entries to the main draw in 2022 and 2023, but lost in the first round. She went through the qualifiers last year and lost in the second round.
“It’s crazy that I made my [debut] here in 2021, and now I’m into the quarterfinals. It’s such a full circle moment,” said Eala in an interview with the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) after barging into the quarterfinals as she thanked her supporters, describing the atmosphere the past days as “completely amazing.”
The feat made Eala the first Filipino player ever to reach the quarterfinals of a WTA 1000 event. She also made a big jump in the live world rankings, leaping from No. 140 to a career-high 102, just on the cusp of finally cracking the top 100 in the world.
In Swiatek, Eala will face a world No. 2 who has the most Grand Slam titles among all active players.
The Polish star has won the French Open four times and the US Open once. She also held the No. 1 spot in the world rankings for 125 weeks, the seventh longest stay at the top in the modern era.
Although Swiatek has slipped to No. 2 in the world rankings behind Aryna Sabalenka, she still holds an 8-4 head-to-head advantage over the No. 1 Belarusian.
Swiatek also owns an 11-3 edge versus No. 3 Coco Gauff of the United States; a 6-4 card against No.4 Jessica Pegula of the United States; and 4-2 versus Keys.
The 23-year-old Swiatek has had her own impressive run thus far in Miami, winning all her three matches without dropping a set.
After a bye in the opening round, she prevailed over former world No. 4 Caroline Garcia of France in the second round, followed by wins over No. 28 Elise Mertens of Belgium and No. 3 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine.
Eala also displayed this week her ability to handle strong players who spray opponents with powerful shots to the baseline. The Filipina has shown her returns don’t need much preparation and that she could hit with power even when on the move.
It would be curious to see how Eala’s new-found strengths counter Swiatek’s aggressive play, which she varies with both long and short shots to keep opponents off balance.
Eala’s patience will be tested repeatedly by Swiatek, who is known to keep her errors to a minimum and is as effective in hitting quick winners as getting her points from long rallies.
Swiatek’s backhand down the line is one of the best in the game. The speed of her topspin forehand has been measured as just slightly below the average speed in the men’s tour.
Eala will need to play a very disciplined game the entire match and not allow Swiatek to swarm her early.
The lefty teen standout proved in the second round against Ostapenko when she fell behind at 0-4 in the first set that she can maintain her poise even in the face of a huge deficit and stage a comeback. But trailing Swiatek in a high-stakes match is never a good idea.
Eala was predicted by experts to lose in straight sets in each of the first three rounds. But she won all her matches in straight sets.
Swiatek is an 11 to 1 favorite against Eala. This means oddsmakers are giving Eala practically very little chance of winning.
Eala, however, has already defied the forecast of experts and oddsmakers thrice in this tournament. There is always that possibility that she still has an upset or two up her sleeves.
The winner of the Eala-Swiatek encounter will advance to the semifinals against the winner of the match between the only remaining American in the tournament, Pegula, and former US Open champion Emma Raducanu of Great Britain. – Rappler.com