With the crowd rallying behind her, Eala makes tennis history for the Philippines

Alexandra Eala became the first player from the Philippines in the Open Era to win a Grand Slam main-draw match with her first-round victory Sunday at the US Open.

Trailing 5-1 in the final set, Eala staged a dramatic comeback to force a third-set tiebreak. She needed five match points before ultimately defeating No. 14 seed Clara Tauson, 6-3, 2-6, 7-6[11], to advance to the second round in New York in 2 hours and 36 minutes.

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The crowd was behind her for every second of it.

“To be Filipino is something I take so much pride in,” Eala said after the match. “And you know, I don’t have a home tournament, so to be able to have this community here at the US Open, I’m so grateful that they made me feel like I’m home.”

From the opening point, the fans embraced the 20-year-old Filipina who broke into the tennis mainstream earlier this year at the WTA 1000 Miami Open. There, she reached the semifinals after defeating Grand Slam champions Jelena Ostapenko, Madison Keys and Iga Swiatek.

In her return to U.S. soil, Eala picked up right where she left off.

After trading holds through the first four games, she broke Tauson for a 3-2 lead in the opening set -- moments after the Dane complained to the chair umpire about crowd noise, prompting a warning to the spectators. When Eala extended her lead to 5-3, the umpire again asked fans to quiet down during points.

Eala closed out the first set, but Tauson quickly seized momentum in the second, breaking serve three times to force a decider.

Tauson raced to a 5-1 lead in the third and headed for victory. But Eala -- and the crowd -- roared back. She broke Tauson twice while the Dane was serving for the match, the second break coming after a double fault on break point.

The double fault immediately followed a video review confirming Eala had hit the ball on her side of the net to set up the break opportunity -- a ruling that left Tauson visibly frustrated.

Despite her frustration, Tauson saved a match point moments later to force a third-set tiebreak. She rallied from an 8-4-deficit and saved three more match points, but it wasn’t enough to stop Eala from securing her first Grand Slam main-draw win.

“I’m always in the mood for more history,” Eala said. “This match is one for the books, for me.”

It wasn't her first historic moment in New York, either. In 2022, Eala became the first Filipina player to win a junior Grand Slam singles title, capturing the US Open girls’ championship. 

She defeated Mirra Andreeva 6-4, 6-0 in the quarterfinals and Victoria Mboko 6-1, 7-6(5) in the semifinals of that tournament en route to the final, where she beat Lucie Havlickova 6-2, 6-4 to claim the title.

Eala now turns her focus to reaching the third round of a Slam for the first time.