One might think that 19-year-old Alexandra Eala, who was ranked well outside the top-100 on the WTA tour before the 2025 Miami Open started, would feel overwhelmed against former No. 1 and five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek. Instead, in the quarterfinals in Miami, Eala looked like the more poised player against the Pole.
Sure, there are things that Eala needs to work on. Her second serve is more of a just-get-in stroke instead of anything that is offsetting to her opponent. She does get some wicked movement on it, but against the top players on tour, her foes should not have an issue. Or one would think.
To be clear, Eala dominated a frustrated Swiatek in the quarterfinals on Wednesday. If one were new to tennis and watching a match for the first time but had heard Swiatek had won a bunch of titles and Eala had not done much, one might have guessed by the control of play that Eala was Swiatek.
Alexandra Eala dominates Iga Swiatek at the Miami Open
There is no doubt that Eala was in complete control of the match. In her 6-2 7-5 victory, she will move well inside the top-100 on the tour, and served notice that she will be an extremely dangerous player moving forward.
In her run in Miami, she became the first Filipina to defeat a former Grand Slam champion (and she has done so in three straight matches), record a top-10 WTA victory, and reach a WTA 1000 semifinal. She will next face the winner of Emma Raducanu and Jessica Pegula. Should she win her next match, Eala will have defeated four straight major winners.
And there is no reason to count her out of any match. She has easy power and moves around the court exceedingly well. Against Swiatek, she also did not defeat herself as she had 16 winners against just 12 unforced errors, while the WTA No. 2 Swiatek had 28 and 32, respectively.
Eala was in total control of the match, however. Some players might take better advantage of her second serve in the future, but she is likely to get better at that as well. If one simply trades shots with the red-hot Filipina, that would not be a good plan. That goes for both the Miami Open and well into the future.