JOB WELL DONE: Eala exits Miami Open in style

The dream run of Alex Eala in the Miami Open came to a screeching halt Friday when the Filipina sensation absorbed a 6-7, 7-5, 3-6 loss to world No. 4 Jessica Pegula in the semifinal round at the Hard Rock Stadium.

Against the more experienced 31-year-old Pegula, Eala, 19, battled for two hours and 26 minutes before eventually conceding against her American foe.

This loss concluded what has been an incredible run for Eala as she exited the Hard Rock Stadium with a smile on her face, her thigh and ankle wrapped in bandage and cheered on by the Filipinos in attendance.

Eala insists that she gave her all in her pursuit of advancing to the final against world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus.

”Of course, I’m disappointed. But there’s so many times in tennis where you have to dig out the dirt to look for the positive and now I’m enjoying it because there’s so much positive around me and I don’t know how many times that has happened so I’m just lucky to have been able to experience these two weeks,” Eala said.

“The match I played was amazing and she played amazing. I definitely had my chances and I definitely have things that I could’ve done better but I literally gave everything I had as you see I’m taped up like a mummy,” she said.

Pegula, couldn’t help but tip her hat off to Eala as both tennis players were left exhausted at the end of the match.

“I mean, she’s really good. Really good tennis player. Goes for her shots, takes the ball early, rips, being a lefty so it’s tricky. Competes really well,” Pegula said.

“I don’t really think she needs me to tell her that she’s a great player, that we’re not gonna see enough of her. But we definitely are, and she proved that tonight. I mean, that was really tough.”

Ranked at No. 140 in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), Eala had to take down opponents within the Top 100 to make a statement in her latest Miami Open run.

She started her campaign with a 6-3, 7-6 win over world No. 73 and home bet Katie Volynets in the round of 128 before pulling off an upset against world No. 25 and French Open champion Jeļena Ostapenko of Latvia in the round of 64, 7-6, 7-5.

Eala then defeated Australian Open champion and world No. 5 Madison Keys of the United States, 6-4, 6-2, in the round of 32, making her an overnight sensation in the Miami Open.

Eala drew a lucky break after world No. 11 Paula Badosa of Spain withdrew from their round of 16 clash due to a lower back injury as she braced for a kill-or-be-killed duel with world No. 2 Iga Swiatek of Poland.

The Filipino tennis ace pulled off what could be the biggest upset of her career as she mowed down Swiatek, 6-2, 7-5, in the quarterfinal.

Eala joins Belarusian tennis player Victoria Azarenka and Justine Henin of Belgium as the only wildcards in the history of the Miami Open to make it to the semifinal.

She is also set to receive $332,160 (P19 million) for making it this far in the Miami Open while also expecting her to rise to the Top 100 WTA rankings soon as she would be granted direct entry into the main draw of major tournaments, including the French Open from 25 May to 8 June.

Still, Eala knows she has to stay consistent and build off from her Miami Open run.

“To have a week like this, the stars need to align and they did this week, and hopefully I can keep that up — that is my goal now, to keep this up,” Eala said.