Alexandra Eala (born 23 May 2005) is a Filipino
tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
player.
Eala was the No. 2-ranked
ITF junior on 6 October 2020. She has a career-high singles ranking by the
Women's Tennis Association
The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) is the principal organizing body of women's professional tennis. It governs the WTA Tour which is the worldwide professional tennis tour for women and was founded to create a better future for women's tenni ...
(WTA) of 214, achieved on 31 October 2022. Eala is the highest-ranked Filipino female singles player in
WTA Tour
The WTA Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125K series, and third-tier is the ITF Women's Circuit. The men's equivalent is the ATP Tour.
WTA Tour tourna ...
history, surpassing
Maricris Gentz, who peaked at No. 284 on 18 October 1999. Eala won her first junior singles title at the
2022 US Open, making her the first Filipino player to win a junior
Grand Slam singles title.
Personal life
Her mother Rosemarie "Rizza" Maniego-Eala is a
1985 Southeast Asian Games
The 1985 Southeast Asian Games ( th, กีฬาแห่งเอเชียตะวันออกเฉียงใต้ 1985, Kila haeng echeiy tawan oak cheing tai 1985), officially known as the 13th Southeast Asian Games, was a Southe ...
bronze medalist in the
100-meter backstroke and currently serves as the
chief financial officer
The chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization that is assigned the primary responsibility for managing the company's finances, including financial planning, management of financial risks, record-keeping, and financ ...
of
Globe Telecom. She is the niece of
Philippine Sports Commission
The Philippine Sports Commission (PSC, ) is an agency of the Philippine government which tackles matters concerning sports in the country. The sports agency is independent from the Philippine Olympic Committee which enjoys autonomy from the gov ...
chairperson and former
Philippine Basketball Association
The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines composed of twelve company-branded franchised teams. Founded in 1975, it is the first professional basketball league in Asia and is the se ...
commissioner
Noli Eala
Jose Emmanuel "Noli" M. Eala is a Filipino sports executive and disbarred lawyer who served as the 11th chairperson of the Philippine Sports Commission from August 30 to December 28, 2022. He previously served as the sixth commissioner of the P ...
. Her brother, Michael (Miko), plays tennis for the
Pennsylvania State University
The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...
.
She has been a student of the
Rafa Nadal Academy
The Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar (RNA) is a tennis training center on the island of Mallorca, Spain. It was founded in 2016 by tennis great Rafael Nadal and located in his hometown of Manacor. The inaugural director is Toni Nadal, Rafa's uncle ...
by
Movistar in
Manacor (Mallorca, Spain), since she was 12 years old.
Junior career
Junior Grand Slam performance - singles:
* Australian Open: 3R (2020)
* French Open: SF (2020)
* Wimbledon: 2R (2021)
* US Open: W (2022)
Junior Grand Slam performance - doubles:
* Australian Open: W (2020)
* French Open: W (2021)
* Wimbledon: 2R (2021)
* US Open: SF (2021)
2018
At the age of 12, Eala won the 2018
Les Petit As 14-and-under tournament, beating
Linda Nosková
Linda Nosková (born 17 November 2004) is a Czech tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) of No. 56, reached on 9 January 2023, and a career-high doubles ranking of world No. 160, set on 3 Octo ...
in the finals. She made her junior
Grand Slam debut at the
2019 US Open. She was named the
2019 Milo Junior Athlete of the Year.
2020 First junior doubles title
Eala won the
2020 Australian girls' doubles event, partnering
Priska Madelyn Nugroho
Priska Madelyn Nugroho (born 29 May 2003) is an Indonesian tennis player. She has won five titles in singles and eleven in doubles on the ITF Circuit. She reached her career-high WTA rankings of No. 276 in singles and No. 197 in doubles. She is ...
. They defeated
Živa Falkner
Živa Falkner (born 7 July 2002) is a Slovenian tennis player.
Falkner has a career high WTA ranking
The WTA rankings are the Sports rating system, ratings defined by the Women's Tennis Association, introduced in November 1975.
Iga Świątek ...
and Matilda Mutavdzic in the final.
Eala peaked in the junior rankings at No. 2, after reaching the semifinals at the 2020
French Open girls' singles competition.
2021 Second junior doubles title
Eala paid tribute to her roots on Independence Day following another major triumph, this time on the clay court in Paris. Eala and her Russian partner
Oksana Selekhmeteva
Oksana Olegovna Selekhmeteva ( rus, Окса́на Оле́говна Селехме́тьева, links=no; ; born 13 January 2003) is a Russian tennis player. Selekhmeteva has a career-high singles ranking by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA ...
captured the French Open girls' doubles title Saturday. They were the top seeds in the tournament, won after knocking out
Maria Bondarenko
Maria Bondarenko (born 9 April 2003) is a Russian tennis player.
Bondarenko has a career-high singles ranking by the WTA of 379, achieved on 11 July 2022. She also has a career-high WTA doubles ranking of world No. 283, achieved on 25 July 2022 ...
of Russia and
Amarissa Kiara Tóth
Amarissa Kiara Tóth (born 10 February 2003) is a Hungarian tennis player. Her mother is of Thai descent.
Tóth has a career-high WTA rankings of 547 in singles, attained on 21 November 2022, and 264 in doubles, achieved on 3 October 2022.
She ...
of Hungary, 6–0, 7–5, in the final.
2022 First junior Grand Slam singles title
On September 11, 2022, Eala became the first Filipino to win a
junior Grand Slam singles championship and the only Filipino with multiple junior Grand Slam titles. She defeated the No. 2 seed,
Lucie Havlickova of the
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
, 6–2, 6–4, at the
girls' singles final of the
2022 US Open at the
USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
.
Professional career
2020 Professional career debut
Eala made her debut on the
ITF Women's Circuit on 4 March 2020, as she played in the $15k event at
Monastir, where she won her first professional match.
2021 First ITF senior title, top 1000 & WTA debut
She leaped to the top 1000 in the
WTA rankings, after winning the title at the first leg of the $15k Manacor event in Spain in January 2021.
She received wildcard in the qualifying draw of
2021 Miami Open – Women's singles
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
where in she lost to
Viktória Kužmová in a three set battle in the first round.
Eala made her first ITF doubles final at the $25k
Platja d’Aro in Spain, playing with
Oksana Selekhmeteva
Oksana Olegovna Selekhmeteva ( rus, Окса́на Оле́говна Селехме́тьева, links=no; ; born 13 January 2003) is a Russian tennis player. Selekhmeteva has a career-high singles ranking by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA ...
. They lost to Lithuania’s
Justina Mikulskyte and Romanian
Oana Georgeta Simion
Oana Georgeta Simion (born 8 March 1996) is a Romanian tennis player.
Simion has a career-high singles ranking by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) of 380, achieved 26 July 2021. She also has a career-high WTA doubles ranking of 272, set on 2 ...
, 3-6, 5-7.
In August, she made her
WTA Tour
The WTA Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125K series, and third-tier is the ITF Women's Circuit. The men's equivalent is the ATP Tour.
WTA Tour tourna ...
main draw debut in
2021 Winners Open
The 2021 WTA Romanian Open, known as the Winners Open due to sponsorship reasons, was a professional women's tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts at the Winners Sports Club. It was the 1st edition of the tournament held in the city o ...
in Cluj-Napoca, Romania by receiving a wildcard. On her first match, she defeated
Paula Ormaechea in straight sets 7-5, 6-2. On her next match, she lost to
Mayar Sherif in straight sets.
2022 Masters 1000 debut
She received a wildcard for her Masters 1000 debut in
2022 Miami Open – Women's singles
Iga Świątek defeated Naomi Osaka in the final, 6–4, 6–0 to win the women's singles title at the 2022 Miami Open. She became the fourth woman in history, after Steffi Graf, Kim Clijsters, and Victoria Azarenka, to complete the Sunshine Dou ...
. She lost to
Madison Brengle
Madison Brengle (born April 3, 1990) is an American professional tennis player. Her biggest success she had in early 2015, reaching her first WTA Tour final in January, followed by a fourth round major event appearance at the Australian Open. I ...
in the first round in straight sets.
2023
Eala made her debut in qualifying draw of
2023 Australian Open
The 2023 Australian Open was a Grand Slam level tennis tournament held at Melbourne Park, from 16–29 January 2023. It was the 111th edition of the Australian Open, the 55th in the Open Era, and the first major of the year. The tournament consi ...
where in her first match she lost to
Misaki Doi in tight three setter.
Performance timeline
''Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Fed Cup/Billie Jean King Cup and Olympic Games are included in win–loss records.''
Singles
''Current after the 2023 Australian Open.''
ITF Circuit finals
Singles 3 (2 titles, 1 runner-up)
Doubles 1 (runner–up)
Junior Grand Slam finals
Singles 1 title
Doubles 2 titles
ITF Junior finals
Singles 9 (4 titles, 5 runner-ups)
Doubles 5 (3 titles, 2 runner-ups)
Notes
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eala, Alex
Sportspeople from Quezon City
Living people
2005 births
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in girls' doubles
Filipino female tennis players
French Open junior champions
Australian Open (tennis) junior champions
Competitors at the 2021 Southeast Asian Games
Southeast Asian Games bronze medalists for the Philippines
Southeast Asian Games medalists in tennis
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in girls' singles
US Open (tennis) junior champions