Alex Eala's Historic Season, and the Filipina Warriors Who Came Before Her
Alex Eala closed out 2026 as the most successful tennis player the Philippines has ever produced. She won her first WTA title at the Washington Open, pushed into the fourth round at Wimbledon — the first Filipino woman to do that in the Open Era — and climbed to a career-high world No. 18, the highest ranking any Filipino has ever held on the WTA tour. Along the way she became the first Filipino to beat a reigning Grand Slam champion at tour level, knocking out Madison Keys — the reigning Australian Open champion at the time — 6-4, 6-2 in the third round of the 2025 Miami Open. By the time she exited the WTA Ningbo Open in the Round of 16 on October 22, 2026 — three days after a straight-sets win over France's Diane Parry — she had already rewritten the record book for Philippine tennis more than once over.