Philippine teen swats Swiatek in Miami

A Philippine teenaged wild card trained at the Rafael Nadal Academy in Spain on Wednesday stunned former world No. 1 Iga Swiatek, with Alexandra Eala making history as a Miami Masters semi-finalist on Wednesday.

The 19-year-old stunned Swiatek 6-2, 7-5 to become the first from her island Asian nation to reach a Tour semi-final.

The world No. 140 rallied from 4-2 down in the second set after beating the five-time Grand Slam winner Swiatek in the opening set.

She is the third wild card to get this far in Miami since Justine Henin (2010) and Victoria Azarenka (2018).

Eala has been a giant-killer against former Grand Slam winners, putting out (2017 Roland Garros) Jelena Ostapenko and reigning Australian Open winner Madison Keys during her upset run here in South Florida.

Swiatek, who was given extra protection at the event after verbal threats from a presumably deranged fans at a Miami practice court, suffered only her third loss to a player outside the top 100 in a WTA main draw. 

Her earlier losses came against No, 106 Karolina Muchova (Prague, 20190 and 228th-ranked Ana Konjuh (Miami, 2021).

“She was pretty loosened up and just went for it,” Swiatek said., “She felt the nice rhythm and it helped her.

“She was really aggressive and she kept her focus. Some of her shots were like out of nowhere.

“In the second set I’m feeling the game a little bit better… I didn’t really think about her. But for sure I made too many mistakes.”

Main photo:- Alexandra Eala shock winner over Iga Swiatek – by WTATennis.com