Alex Eala beat American qualifier Mary Stoiana 6-1, 6-2 in 78 minutes on September 2 at Louis Armstrong Stadium, opening her 2026 US Open campaign in straight sets. The 17th-seeded Filipina broke twice in the first set to open a 5-0 lead before Stoiana got on the scoreboard, then answered a brief 2-1 deficit in the second set by winning four straight games to close out the match. She converted four of eight break-point chances and landed 78% of her first serves.

Stoiana, a 23-year-old American who began playing tennis at age four under her father’s coaching, was making her first Grand Slam main-draw appearance. The two had met once before, at a W100 ITF event in Landisville in August 2024, where a 19-year-old Eala won in straight sets, 7-5, 6-2.

The win extends Eala’s run at Flushing Meadows to a second consecutive year in the main draw. She reached the second round on her US Open debut in 2025; this year’s opener guarantees at least that far again, with a tougher second-round assignment already set. The result carries a ranking-points stake specifically: reaching the round of 64 at a Grand Slam is worth roughly 70 WTA ranking points against about 10 for a first-round exit, the kind of gap that matters for a player currently sitting at a career-high No. 18 in the world with a deep run here being framed as her chance to push toward the Top 15.

Eala came into the tournament off an uneven North American hard-court stretch — a fourth-round finish in Toronto and a third-round exit in Cincinnati, both losses to ranked opponents. Stoiana’s inexperience at this level meant she never seriously threatened after the opening set.

Demand for the session outpaced how the match itself played out. Ticket prices for the Louis Armstrong Stadium slot reportedly climbed more than 130% in the hours before first serve, a measure of how large Eala’s following has grown at this tournament, driven in large part by the Filipino community that turns out for her matches in New York.

The win put her into the second round against Ukraine’s Oleksandra Oliynykova, world No. 46, who advanced earlier the same day by beating American Reese Brantmeier 6-4, 6-4. Eala’s 6-1, 6-4 win over Oliynykova — and the complications that came with it — is covered here. The result extends a 2026 season that’s already included her maiden WTA Tour title in Washington, and keeps her alive in the year’s final Grand Slam.