Filipino tennis prodigy Alex Eala keeps her meteoric rise after a stunning win over world No. 5 and current Australian Open champion Madison Keys.

The teenager served a masterclass to take the 6-4, 6-2 victory in the Round of 32 of the WTA 1000 Miami Open, becoming the first female Filipino athlete in the Open Era to defeat a top-10 player.

Eala Secures Historic Win Against Top-Ranked Player

Alex Eala Upsets World No. 5 Madison Keys Two Days Alex Eala Upsets World No. 5 Madison Keys Two Days
RYAN LIM/AFP via Getty Images

The recent days have been hard for Eala. Tiring would be an understatement to describe her experience after upsetting World No. 25 Jelena Ostapenko. For the first time in her career, her nerves of steel and perseverance paid off after she locked in her WTA tournament Final 16 entry, according to Tennis.com.

"I'm so blank," Eala shared during her post-match interview, visibly emotional as Filipino supporters waved their flags in celebration. "I'm thinking of my parents. 'Mom and Dad, nakuha ko! ("I got it!") My God."

Eala's trek was fueled by her hard-earned 7-6 (2), 7-5 win over the former French Open champion in the second round. Not only was it a personal milestone—it was a historic one for Philippine tennis.

Eala is the first Filipino player to beat a Top 30 player since 1975, when the WTA rankings began, after beating Elise Mertens in the main draw.

The win is even more impressive given that Eala is the lone Filipino player competing on the professional tennis circuit today with no other Filipino man or woman ranked in the Top 1000.

Strong Performance Against Keys Seals the Win for Eala

Keys, a Grand Slam campaigner, dominated the match by winning four of the first seven games. But Eala reversed the situation with a crucial break in the ninth game to win the first set 6-4.

That took its toll into the second set, where the 19-year-old player broke Keys on two occasions, at 3-2 and 5-2, en route to the match win inside 1 hour and 27 minutes.

Eala was impressively disciplined herself, with one double fault from her compared to Keys' four, and converting Keys' crucial unforced errors to seal victories.

Eala had been training in the Rafael Nadal academy in Mallorca since she was 13. She and Keys traded serve shots for the first seven games, but it was the 2022 US Open girls' singles champ who broke the latter's momentum to capture the first set at 5-4, per The Athletic.

Paula Badosa Waits in the Next Round

Eala's path does not become simpler as she will face Spain's Paula Badosa, a past world No. 2, in the Round of 16 on Tuesday, March 25.

Badosa, the current World No. 11, advanced after beating Denmark's Clara Tauson 6-3, 7-6 (3).

Eala confessed that there were times when she won good matches, but she lost the next one. This time, she wants to prove that she was more than ready and prepared to seize her moment.