By el Amigo
MANILA – Filipina tennis sensation Alexandra Eala continued her remarkable 2026 campaign after knocking out defending champion Leylah Fernandez of Canada in straight sets, 6-2, 7-6 (7-1), to book a place in the quarterfinals of the Washington Open on Wednesday (Manila time).
The 21-year-old showcased her composure and fighting spirit by overcoming a 5-1 deficit in the second set before dominating the tiebreak to seal one of the biggest victories of her season.
Eala controlled the opening set, capitalising on Fernandez’s unforced errors to take it comfortably, 6-2. The Canadian, seeded seventh in the tournament, responded strongly in the second set and appeared poised to force a decider after racing to a four-game advantage.
The Filipina star, however, refused to back down. She mounted an impressive comeback, winning five consecutive games to take a 6-5 lead before Fernandez held serve to extend the set into a tiebreak.
Eala took command early in the tiebreak and never looked back. After earning five match points with a superb cross-court forehand winner, she needed only one opportunity to close out the match.
“Everything’s kind of a blur right now,” Eala said after the victory. “I really made an effort to stay in the moment, and I was ready for anything that could have happened.”
The win avenged her straight-set loss to Fernandez earlier this year in Stuttgart and marked Eala’s fifth quarterfinal appearance of an outstanding season.
Eala has been enjoying a meteoric rise in women’s tennis. Last month, she became the first Filipino player to reach the Round of 16 of a Grand Slam tournament after defeating Iga Swiatek at Wimbledon. She currently sits at World No. 28 and continues to establish herself among the sport’s emerging stars.
Awaiting Eala in the quarterfinals is either second seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine or Uzbekistan’s Polina Kudermetova.
The Filipina also enters the next round riding the momentum of another hard-fought victory after rallying past China’s Zheng Qinwen in three sets earlier in the tournament.
elamigo/xf
