So often for tennis players it isn’t securing the biggest win of their life that’s the hard part; it’s backing it up. So Alexandra Eala found after she wound up on the losing side of a two hour, 22 minute tussle with former finalist Jasmine Paolini, just a couple of days after holding her nerve in an epic straight-set win over defending champion and world No 3 Iga Swiatek.
The 21-year-old looked distraught as she conceded a break to fall down 5-3 in the deciding set, as a battle of wills slowly tilted in the experienced Italian’s favour. Two unforced errors by Eala handed over the match and with it, a place in the quarter-finals, as her history-making run came to an end on a baking Centre Court, 4-6 6-4 3-6.
At just 21 Eala is already well accustomed to breaking new ground. This week she became the first player from the Philippines to reach the fourth round of a grand slam, as well as the first to win a main draw match at the Championships, full stop. It has been a stellar run.
She recognised it as such, enjoying the moment as she left Centre Court, waving and blowing kisses to the adoring crowd. She told press later: “I think it’s important that every match I played this week, and every match that I play, I go in with self-esteem and the thought that I’m able to win… If I’m able to approach them with bravery, with a steady mind and with intensity, then I’m able to look back and feel no regret.”
Her home country of 112 million people has its fair share of sporting stars but has never had a tennis hero or heroine to worship, but now watch parties are filling out arenas back home to cheer on their new star.
She is transcending the sport: the highlights of her third-round win over Swiatek have reached 1.2m views on Wimbledon’s official YouTube channel. It is the most-watched video of this Championships so far, with the 21-year-old’s post-match press conference next on nearly 580,000 views. By contrast, the highlight reel of Serena Williams’ much-vaunted comeback against Maya Joint has a shade under 550,000.
Far from being intimidated by her new superstar status, Eala has looked at home on Centre Court. Her crisp groundstrokes and crafty, lefty slice, as well as the variety and spin in her game, have served her well on the grass – despite her growing up training on a hybrid tennis and basketball court, where she couldn’t step too far back from the baseline without knocking into the basketball hoop.
But for the first five games on Monday she was on the back foot, overpowered by the booming groundstrokes Paolini – despite her diminutive stature, at 5’4” – can produce at her best. She fell a break down as the Italian mercilessly targeted her weak second serve and outhit her from the baseline.
But the 29th seed is a gritty competitor, and from 4-1 down she forced her way back into the match, hitting her groundstrokes with increased confidence and forcing the Italian on the defensive. She was rewarded with a break back for 5-4 and although Paolini broke straight back to clinch the first set, it was clear that having established a foothold in this match, Eala would not be easily dislodged.
Cheered on by a partisan crowd – unusual, given Paolini’s popularity, and indicative of how far-reaching the Eala effect has been – the 21-year-old broke for a 2-1 lead. Despite being broken straight back she continued to dictate in the second set, while Paolini cut a frustrated figure, far from her usual smiley demeanour, with her shot selection consistently poor. The roars of support for Eala as she took the second set could be heard from all the way over on No 1 Court.
Serve proved the difference in the decider as Paolini improved from winning less than 50 per cent of her first serve points to 94, holding to love in her two opening games and probing on the Eala serve, with the breakthrough inevitably coming in the seventh game.
Eala, having saved one break point, double faulted, before hitting long to concede a break at the worst possible time. Her face dropped and although she immediately reset, playing two gutsy returns to go 0-30 as Paolini served for the match, she had no response to an ace, with a wildly long forehand handing over the victory and a place in the quarter-finals.
She said revealingly after that win over Swiatek, “I’m not satisfied”, and summed up her mentality as: “Never say die, to play every point like your life depends on it.”
There are obvious elements that will need to improve if she is to turn herself from disruptor into consistent challenger at the top – most notably her feeble serve. But although the fairytale is over for this year, she has put the rest of the WTA on notice.
For Paolini, into her first grand slam quarter-final since her own breakthrough season in 2024, when she reached the Roland-Garros and Wimbledon finals, this was a cathartic win after a difficult first half of the season, in which she has struggled with a foot injury.
She described 2026 as a “rollercoaster” and added later: “I think what happened in this year was that I had too many doubts. It was hard to believe sometimes. Match by match I am feeling better. I feel more confidence in myself, I’m more positive, as well. You can lose, you can win, but the goal is to keep this mindset.”
