‘Over the moon’: Filipino Eala bags historic first at US Open

NEW YORK: Alexandra Eala produced a jaw-dropping late comeback to carve out a piece of tennis history at the US Open on Sunday, becoming the first player from the Philippines to win a Grand Slam singles match with a first round upset of Danish 14th seed Clara Tauson.
The 20-year-old from Quezon City recovered from a 5-1 deficit in the deciding set to score a thrilling 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (13/11) triumph.
“I’m super over the moon with what I was able to do today, especially coming back in the third,” Eala said. “It’s a very special win for me.”
Eala’s breakthrough comes at the end of a season where she had already served notice of her talent.
She took down Australian Open champion Madison Keys and former world number one Iga Swiatek during a giant-killing run to the semifinals of the Miami Open in March.
But Sunday’s triumph on the Grandstand court at Flushing Meadows catapulted the youngster — who won the US Open girls title in 2022 — into the history books.
“I’m so blessed to be the first to do this,” Eala said. “I take so much pride in representing my country. It makes what I do bigger than myself, and it adds meaning to what I do.”
Eala collapsed to the court after her victory, later revealing that past experiences had helped her dig deep to clinch the tiebreak.

“I was just so over the moon, and it was just such a rush of emotions,” she said.
“I think so many factors made the match so special. I’ve been on the losing side of these tight tiebreaks before, so to be on the winning side, it’s very memorable.”
Eala said she plans to take the same never-say-die mentality into the remainder of the tournament.
“The key for my upcoming match is just to come in with the same mentality, same fight,” she said. “Right now I’m just