Eala advances to Round of 16

Sweeps Poland’s Magda Linette in two sets

CAN’T STOP, won’t stop.

Relentless Alexandra “Alex” Eala rocked and rolled her way to another Round of 16 stint, scoring a 6-3, 7-6 (7-2) romp of Poland’s Magda Linette in the Miami Open before a roaring pro-Filipino crowd at the Grandstand of the Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday.

Ms. Eala, WTA No. 29, recovered from a near meltdown in the second set with a torrid 7-2 rally in the tiebreaker to complete another sweep of the Polish veteran in the duel between youth and experience in one hour and 48 minutes.

The 20-year-old Filipina previously beat the 34-year-old Ms. Linette, WTA No. 50, in the quarterfinals of the WTA 250 ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand earlier this year, picking up where she left off to zero in on her lofty goals in Florida.

Ms. Eala, a wildcard qualifier who shocked the tennis world last year to become the first Filipina WTA semifinalist in Miami, is No. 31 seed in the main draw right away this time around after her meteoric rise that also included a similar Last 16 finish in the Indian Wells Open considered as the “Fifth Grand Slam” last week.

She is two wins away from retaining her place in the world’s Top 30 and recovering the hefty deduction of 390 ranking points she gained following her magical run last edition in the 1000-level WTA tour upon its expiration this week.

And she will try to move closer to that coveted bid against world No. 14 Karolina Muchova of Czechia on Monday (Manila time) for a slot in the quarterfinals. The 29-year-old Ms. Muchova, the No. 13 seed in Miami, scored a 6-3, 7-5 win over No. 67 Katie Boulter of Great Britain.

A win by Ms. Eala would set the stage against either fellow rising stars in No. 9 Victoria Mboko of Canada or No. 10 Mirra Andreeva of Russia after their easy victories in Round 3. Ms. Mboko, 19, drubbed Russian Anastasia Zakharova, 6-1, 7-5, while Ms. Andreeva, 18, beat Czech Marie Bouzkova, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2.

By the final four, either her good pal in No. 4 Coco Gauff or No. 6 Amanda Anisimova, both from the United States, is tipped to stand in the way.

“Being back in the 4th round, it makes me feel the same as I did last year. I’m so happy. I’m so excited. It’s such a privilege to be back in Miami,” said Ms. Eala, taking it one game at a time without thinking of the immense pressure on defending her ranking points to stay inside the Top 30.

Following the expiration of her ranking points, Ms. Eala is currently at No. 44 from as low as No. 50 according to the live WTA rankings after regaining 120 of those 390-point deduction with three wins so far.

As the No. 31 seed, she had a first-round bye before eking out a gritty a 6-7 (6-8), 6-3, 6-3 Round of 64 win against No. 53 Laura Siegemund of Germany.

She rode the momentum of that back-and-forth duel that lasted three hours and 20 minutes for the longest match of her career, looking “as fresh as a flower” as she unleashed a 4-1 finishing kick on Ms. Linette from a 2-all score for the win in the opening set.

Ms. Eala appeared headed to a cruise with another strong start in the second, 3-1, but Ms. Linette proved her worth as the second-round slayer of world No. 3 and Miami No. 2 seed Iga Swiatek, 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, by staging a 5-2 blitz to snatch the set point, 6-5.

The lefty ace then held serve in the 12th to drag the duel to an extension, where she just stamped her class marked by three break points for a convincing 7-2 win.

Last year, Ms. Eala beat three Grand Slam champions and Top 20 players in Ms. Swiatek, Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko and USA’s Madison Keys one after another to harvest the said massive points, reach new feats for Philippine tennis and enter the world’s Top 100.

And in spite of an entirely different landscape now as one of the world’ rising stars from being an unknown qualifier last year, there is no stopping the Filipina pride. — John Bryan Ulanday