Alex Eala Finally Got Tested in Cincinnati. She Just Ran Out of Sets.
Alex Eala finally faced a real opponent in Cincinnati — and took a set off a two-time Grand Slam finalist before falling in three. Next stop: the US Open.
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Alex Eala Avenged Her Only Loss to Ruse. Now Comes Amanda Anisimova.
Alex Eala got the rematch she wanted. The ending, however, came sooner than either player planned. The 21-year-old Filipina tennis star advanced to the Round of 32 at the Cincinnati Open in the early hours of Sunday, Aug. 16 (Manila time), after Elena-Gabriela Ruse, the Romanian she’d lost to in her only previous meeting with the player, retired with an apparent right ankle injury while Eala led 6-1, 3-0. It was an emphatic start. Eala dropped the opening game, then reeled off nine of the next ten to seize control of the match. Ruse called for a medical timeout after falling behind 3-0 in the second set to have the ankle taped, and play was suspended shortly after for lightning. She retired before it could resume, handing Eala the win 6-1, 3-0 (ret’d). The result evens their head-to-head at 1-1. Ruse beat Eala in their first meeting, at the 2024 US Open qualifying tournament — a match Eala had led before Ruse rallied to win in three sets. This time, Eala never let her settle …
Alex Eala’s Toronto Run Ends. The Bigger Picture Still Looks Good.
Alex Eala’s seven-match winning streak ends in Toronto against Belinda Bencic — a lopsided finish that says more about fatigue than form.
Alex Eala Won on a Bad Foot. That’s the Real Story Out of Toronto.
Alex Eala beat Caty McNally in three sets at the Canadian Open — and spent most of the second one visibly hurt. The win matters more because of that, not less.
Alex Eala Wins Her First Title — After Three Rain Delays and a 6-0 Bagel
Three rain delays, one blown Miami rematch avenged, and a 6-0 third set — Alex Eala finally has her first WTA Tour title.
Eala Just Solved Osaka Too, Now On To Her First WTA 500 Final vs Pegula
Naomi Osaka was the “uncharted territory” in Alex Eala’s DC Open run. Eala mapped it in two sets — and now faces Jessica Pegula for the title.
Alex Eala Beat Svitolina Again. Naomi Osaka Is Uncharted Territory.
Alex Eala beat Elina Svitolina for the second time in two months — this time as the underdog, on the surface the doubters said would expose her.
Alex Eala Has a Type: Defending Champions
Some players build a rivalry. Alex Eala is building a job description: show up wherever a title is being defended, and dismantle it. On Wednesday night in Washington, D.C., the résumé grew by one. Eala beat defending Mubadala DC Open champion Leylah Fernandez, 6-2, 7-6(1), in the Round of 16 — surviving a scare in the second set that had her down 5-1 before ripping off five straight games to force, then win, a tiebreak. It’s the second time in less than a month that Eala has taken down a reigning titleholder. If that sounds familiar, it should: Alex Eala Beats the Player Who Broke Her Heart in 2023 ran on this site less than a day ago, and Zheng Qinwen wasn’t even the champion in that matchup — she was the wildcard rebuilding her ranking. Fernandez is the real thing: the woman who won this exact tournament last year, now watching the quarterfinals from home because of the player who knocked her out of it. The Ledger So Far Start at Wimbledon. Three weeks …