World No. 75 Alexandra Eala opened her 2025 US Open campaign with a bang on Sunday, upsetting Denmark's No. 14 Clara Tauson 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (13-11) to become the first-ever Filipina player to win a Grand Slam match in the Open Era.
"I'm so blessed to be the first to do this, I take so much pride in representing my country," Eala said following the victory. "It makes what I do bigger than myself."
The 2025 tennis season has been a banner year for the rising star, as a 2025 Miami Open run saw Eala defeat both 2025 Australian Open champ No. 6 Madison Keys and six-time Grand Slam winner No. 2 Iga Świątek en route to becoming the first-ever Filipina to advance to a WTA semifinal.
The 20-year-old has played professionally since graduating from Spain's Rafael Nadal Academy in 2023, with Sunday's win coming just three years after Eala claimed the 2022 US Open girls' championship.
The crowd in Queens was overwhelmingly behind their former junior champ on Sunday — a boost that Eala was quick to acknowledge in her post-match interview.
"To be Filipino is something I take so much pride in," Eala told reporters. “I don't have a home tournament, so to be able to have this community here at the US Open, I'm so grateful they made me feel like I'm home."
"This match is one for the books for me," she summed up.
Eala now moves on to the US Open's second round, hitting the court again on Wednesday against an as-yet-undetermined opponent.
How to watch the 2025 US Open
The first round of the 2025 US Open continues on Monday and Tuesday, with live coverage of the New York Grand Slam airing across ESPN platforms.
Wild card entrant Alexandra Eala of the Philippines continued her epic 2025 Miami Open run on Wednesday, as the world No. 140 took down No. 2 Iga Świątek in a 6-2, 7-5 straight-set stunner.
Without massive power as part of her game, the 19-year-old leaned hard on her fast feet and intelligent shot-making, earning 43 of her 77 points from serve returns.
"My coach told me to run, to go for every ball, to take all the opportunities I can because a five-time [Grand] Slam champion is not going to give you the win," said Eala.
At the same time that Eala was disrupting Świątek's rhythm, the tournament's defending champion struggled with her serve and ultimately committed 32 unforced errors in the loss.
"She was really aggressive and she kept her focus, and some of these shots were pretty out of nowhere," commented Świątek after the match, as she joined a growing list of big-name departures from the Florida competition.
Eala emblazons her name into Filipina sports history
As one of the sport's top junior prospects, Eala won the girls' doubles title at both the 2020 Australian Open and 2021 French Open, before taking the girls' singles championship at the 2022 US Open.
Even so, "being a successful junior doesn’t mean you are going to be a successful professional," Eala acknowledged.
Her dramatic Miami Open run begs to differ, as Eala dismissed two other Grand Slam winners from the tournament en route to her Wednesday’s quarterfinal date with Świątek.
First, she sent Latvia's No. 25 Jeļena Ostapenko — the 2017 French Open winner packing in Friday's Round of 64, then dispatched 2025 Australian Open champ No. 5 Madison Keys in Sunday's Round of 32 — both in just two sets.
Her trio of Miami Open wins over Top 30 players now counts as the total tally for her entire country, with Eala also becoming the first-ever Filipina to advance to a WTA semifinal.
With the WTA's next rankings updates, she will also become the first player from the Philippines to crack into the Top 100 — a mark Eala will launch past as her victory over Świątek already guarantees her at least a No. 75 ranking.
"I'm just in disbelief right now," Eala said in her on-court interview. "I'm so happy, and so blessed to be able to compete with such a player on this stage."
How to watch Alexandra Eala in the 2025 Miami Open semifinals
The Filipina teen's next hurdle in her historic run is US star No. 4 Jessica Pegula, who she'll face at 8:30 PM ET on Thursday, with a Saturday championship date against world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka guaranteed for the victor.
Thursday's semifinal between Eala and Pegula will air live on The Tennis Channel.