Bill Simons
Who knew that Asia and all things Asian would be a hefty story line in tennis this year? Yes, last year Qinwen Zheng won the Olympic Gold. And before that, the WTA ended their boycott (or should we say “girl-cott”) of the country due to the Peng Shuai abuse scandal.
This year began with the dazzling emergence of Learner Tien, the Next Gen finalist from Irvine, California, shocked Daniil Medvedev at the Aussie Open and Alexander Zverev at the Mexican Open.
Then, Japan’s Yosuke Watanuki upset Frances Tiafoe in Indian Wells to become the first Japanese player to reach the BNP Paribas Round of 16 as a qualifier.
Insiders also noted that the venerable Tom Ross has been selected to go into the NorCal Tennis Hall of Fame. For decades the venerable industry figure was the agent for Michael Chang who played a foundational role in bringing tennis to China. And Ross was also the tournament director of the China Open.
And, speaking of Asia, we’d like to (cough, cough) talk about the breakout of another Asia. That would be none other than the Long Beach-born Asia Muhammad, who for years crafted her game under the tutelage of Tim Blenkiron at his No Quit Academy in Las Vegas. Earlier this month at Indian Wells, she teamed up with Holland’s Demi Schurrs to down Tereza Mihalíkovs and Olivia Nicholls to claim the doubles championship, 6-2, 7-6 (4). It was the 12th career title for Asia, who won the Cincy Masters last summer with Erin Routliffe and is at a career-high of No. 8 in doubles.
But if ever a lead’s been buried in a sports article, it’s this one. Sure, the biggest tennis story of late has been the bombshell lawsuit that the Professional Tennis Players Association filed. But, in Miami (unless you’re a loud Brazilian fan who adores young Joao Foncesca, a Czech backer of teen semifinalist Jakub Mensik, or a Serbian who’s proud of the fact that Djokovic is the oldest player to ever reach the Miami Open final and could win his 100th career tournament victory Sunday), the headline of the tourney has been Alexandra the Great – the previously unheralded Alexandra Eala, ranked No. 140, who made the greatest run of tennis’ in the history of the Philippines in the Open Era.
For the first time in decades the beloved Rafa Nadal is not on the tour, but his impact is still being felt. Eala is a product of the Rafa Nadal Academy and like Señor Nadal, is an appealing lefty with great mental toughness. But Eala’s shots are as flat as Nadal’s forehand is loopy. The still baby-faced kid, who moved with her sports-oriented family to Rafa’s Academy in Mallorca six years ago, had only scored two main draw wins before Miami. Yet, she swept through the draw in a manner that brings to mind the time that 19-year-old Rafa demolished the hopes of a star-studded American Davis Cup team led by Andy Roddick.
This week, Eala became just the second teen ever to win her first two matches against Top Five players. And, for just the second time in WTA history, a wildcard beat three Grand Slam winners in a tourney: she beat former French Open champ Jelena Ostapenko, Aussie Open winner Madison Keys and five-time Slam champ Iga Swiatek.
Going into tonight’s semis, Eala faced another player of Asian heritage. As an infant, the mother of the 2024 US Open finalist, Jessica Pegula, was abandoned on the steps of a police station in Seoul, Korea. Going into tonight’s match against No. 4 Pegula, who reached the 2024 US Open final, Alexandra hadn’t lost a set. Her run was the greatest performance in the history of her country, which has a population of 115 million.
Eala does bring to mind Canadian Leylah Fernandez, whose mother Irene is of Filipino-Canadian heritage. But goodness, until now, the best native Filipino player was the little-known Felicisimo Ampon, who reached the French Open quarterfinals in 1952 and 1953, and who died in 1997.
Throughout her run, Alexandra showed amazing poise. She steps in and bravely takes balls on the rise and hits out. She has a great hook forehand and a nasty backhand. Her return of serve is lethal. She attacks second serves. She rips winners, plays surprisingly superb volleys an her anticipation is keen. Her variety and game management skills impress. Lindsay Davenport commented, “I’m not sure I’ve ever seen this young a player morph her playing style based on the score or how she’s feeling.”
Simply put, Eala humiliated Swiatek, breaking the Pole’s serve an astounding eight times. Alexandra’s one-way-traffic win prompted The Tennis Channel’s Coco Vandeweghe to claim that Swiatek’s loss to Eala, along with other recent shortfalls, “shows that Iga is shakable. She gets down on herself real quickly and doesn’t recover. Then the antics start coming. Her emotions start bleeding out, and she hasn’t found the rhythm of getting herself back…You see others doing that, and Iga has to do that or the locker room will start talking about the world No. 2 and say she’s beatable.”
Tonight, Eala who was the first Filipina ever to reach a WTA semifinal – raced to a 5-2 first set lead and couldn’t convert a set point. But, come on, Alexandra was the second lowest-ranked woman to reach a Miami semi, and she’s never played in a singles Slam. Pegula, 31, is battle worn. She’s been in 24 majors. The Buffalo native has won $17.1 million. Eala has pocketed “just” $499,000. And the Pride of Buffalo rallied to claim the opening set tiebreak 7-3.
But “so what” said the swift, fearless and free-swinging kid. Alexandra came back and won the second-set 7-5. And she was on serve until the eighth game of the deciding set.
Finally, Pegula stepped up and showed her pedigree. The veteran warrior they call Mrs. Consistent hit two groundie winners and took advantage of an errant forehand to break serve, en route to scoring an after-midnight 7-6(3), 5-7, 6-3 win, to reach her first ever Miami Open. She’ll face Aryna Sabalenka, who beat her 7-5, 7-5 in the 2024 US Open final.
After her narrow loss, Eala told Jessica, “It was such a pleasure to play you.” Yes, but it was more than a pleasure for tennis to welcome a bright new face and a future champion – Alexandra the Great.
