Philippine wild card Alexandra Eala pulled off the biggest win of her young career with a stunning 6-2 7-5 upset of Polish world number two Iga Swiatek on Wednesday to extend her dream run at the Miami Open into the semi-finals.
The big-hitting 19-year-old showed no signs of intimidation playing against one of her idols and was instead a picture of poise as she dismantled Swiatek’s serve early on to grab control of the match and never looked back.
“I don’t know what to say, I mean, complete just disbelief right now and I am on cloud nine,” Eala said in her on-court interview.
“It’s forever in my heart.”
Swiatek, who was playing the match with added security after being verbally abused by a spectator at the weekend, failed to hold serve throughout the first set while Eala was swinging freely as she unleashed winners from all over the court.
Five-times Grand Slam champion Swiatek hit a staggering 19 unforced errors in the opening set and then received some advice from her coach before briefly leaving the court.
In the second set Eala managed to overturn a 4-2 deficit and then held her nerve while Swiatek tried to serve out the set at 5-4 before ultimately closing it out with her eighth break of the match.
For Eala, the victory over Swiatek marked the third Grand Slam winner she had knocked out of the women’s draw after earlier wins over Australian Open champion Madison Keys and 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko.
READ: Tennis: Philippine wild card Alex Eala stuns Keys, Djokovic sets Masters 1000 record
Up next for Eala will be the winner of the day’s other quarter-final between American fourth seed Jessica Pegula and 2021 U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu of Britain.
On the men’s side top seed Alexander Zverev was upset by Arthur Fils 3-6 6-3 6-4 as the rising Frenchman made the quarter-finals of a Masters 1000 tournament for the second straight occasion after doing so at Indian Wells earlier this month.
The towering German crushed an ace to capture the first set but the 17th-seeded Fils turned the tables in the second, securing an early break and smacking a cross-court winner to level the contest.
Zverev broke for a 3-1 lead in the decider but then began to struggle with his accuracy as his normally trusty backhand failed him at critical moments while his opponent began to feed off the energy of the crowd.
Fils, 20, confidently served out the match to set up a quarter-final showdown with 19-year-old Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic.
“In the third set I thought it was over almost, 3-1, he’s serving great,” Fils said after the match, which had been postponed a day due to rain.
“But I said don’t get mad, just try to play as much as you can, try to fight and if you make a break, it’s nice. And it happened.”
Serbian fourth seed Novak Djokovic, who is seeking a record seventh Miami title, caps the evening session against American 24th seed Sebastian Korda for a spot in the semi-finals.
Bulgarian 14th seed Grigor Dimitrov faces Argentine Francisco Cerundolo in the day’s other quarter-final.
—Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto and Rory Carroll in Los Angeles; Editing by Toby Davis
