Alexandra Eala has been fired from the Miami Open (Image: Sky Sports)
Alexandra Eala’s Miami Open run came to an end in disappointing fashion as the Filipino tennis star was sent off the court in just an hour on Monday. Eala became the breakout star of last year’s Miami Open, entering the tournament as a teenage wild card ranked 140th in the world. She beat three Grand Slam champions (Iga Swiatek, Madison Keys and Jelena Ostapenko) on her way to the semifinals.
Since then, Eala has become a fan favorite wherever she goes, but especially in Miami, and tournament director James Blake is already talking about her star power. She returned to Hard Rock Stadium this year as the 31st seed and reached the fourth round, but was thrashed by 13th seed Karolina Muchova 6-0, 6-2 on Monday morning.
Muchova won the first set in just 25 minutes and won the first 10 games in a row of the match before Eala finally got one on the board, roaring as she ended the Czech star’s streak. But the deficit was too big and the 20-year-old could do nothing as she suffered a one-sided defeat in the fourth round.
No. 13 seed Muchova becomes the first woman to book her place in the quarterfinals this year, and it is her first quarterfinal at the Miami Open. When asked what was most satisfying for her during the ruthless match, Muchova told Sky Sports: “I would say keep it going, as they say, continuous, keeping the pace when it goes – I don’t want to say too fast. But when you keep it going, you just have to be careful not to stop playing and keep pushing. So I would say I was still in the game and I was able to finish it.”
The 29-year-old arrived at Hard Rock Stadium full of confidence after lifting the biggest title of her career at the WTA 1000 event in Doha last month. She lost to Iga Swiatek in the fourth round at Indian Wells, but is now in the round of 16 in Miami.
Reflecting on that win in Doha, Muchova continued: “It certainly gave me a lot of confidence, but in tennis it’s like one day you achieve this, you win and the second day you lose. There are a lot of ups and downs in tennis. Obviously, it was very nice. It was a very nice moment for me to finally win a title, great tennis, a lot of matches, so it definitely gave me some confidence.”
Karolina Muchova qualified for the quarterfinals of the Miami Open for the first time (Image: Sky Sports)
Eala’s ranking will now be affected after losing in the fourth round. The Filipino star is currently ranked 29th, a career-high, but will lose 270 ranking points and is expected to drop out of the world’s top 40.
The 20-year-old’s departure will be a blow to the Miami Open, as Eala is a crowd favorite here. Tournament director Blake recently told Tennis Channel that Eala and Brazilian ATP star Joao Fonseca draw some of the biggest crowds, even though they are not top-level Grand Slam champions.
“Eala, this last year has also been very exciting for her. I feel like last year, this event, it was kind of a coming out party where she had great results coming from a wild card position as well,” he said.
“So I think the international interest in both of them is very high, and Miami is a cultural melting pot with a lot of international flavor here. I think we’re going to need them to be on center court because they have so many fans around the world, and here it will feel like home games for both of them.”
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