Alex Eala's dream run hits a bump at the US Open

US OPEN

The Philippines' Alex Eala loses in the US Open's second round.

Filipino tennis player Alex Eala's historic run at the US Open came to a halt Wednesday losing to Spain's Cristina Bucsa, 6-4, 6-3.

Eala had hoped her match against No. 95 Bucsa, whom she had defeated earlier in her career, would continue but she lost on the courts in Flushing, New York.

In her loss, the No..70 ranked Eala could not overcome 21 unforced errors compared to her opponent’s 12.

Still, the 20-year old Eala had already made history in her first round victory over No. 14 ranked Clara Tauson of Denmark as the first player from the Philippines to win at the US Open.

With a raucous crowd of Filipino Americans behind her, she defeated 14th ranked  Tauson Sunday.

“Although I'm at the start of my WTA career, I've played so many matches, and tight matches and tense moments can happen at any level,” she told reporters. “I've been playing since I was four. I'm 20 now, so that's 16 years of experience, whether it's at the junior level, 10-and-under level, professional level.

“I think that mental strength and that focus are the keys to coming out victorious in those moments.”

Eala, meanwhile, knows all too well the dangers of underestimation as she had made a worldwide name for herself after beating Grand Slam champions like Jelena Ostapenko, Madison Keys, and former world No. 1 Iga Swiatek in her iconic 2025 Miami Open giant-killing run.

The US Open is in Flushing, NY, a few subway stops from Little Manila in Queens. Filipino Americans made their presence felt during Eala's first-round victory over Tuasun. The partisan crowd gave Eala a homecourt advantage and made her "feel like home," she said.

"To be Filipino is something I take so much pride in," Eala said after the first-round match. "And you know, I don’t have a home tournament, so to be able to have this community here at the U.S. Open, I’m so grateful that they made me feel like I’m home."

Rising star Eala is a 2023 graduate of the Rafa Nadal Academy in Mallorca, Spain. She arrived in 2018 to train with her brother, according to the facility's website. She began training as a 12-year-old

Eala was already the first Filipino player to win a junior Grand Slam singles title at the US Open girls’ championship in 2022, and she became the first Filipino to be ranked inside the top 100 in the world earlier this year. She made her professional debut in 2020. After her first-round win, she was ranked No. 70. After her loss, she dropped to No. 75.

Eala's next tournament is the Sao Paulo Open in Brazil, a WTA 250 event starting on September 8. Following that, she is expected to participate in a series of tournaments in Asia. Her long-term goal is to reach the world No. 1 ranking in the WTA and to qualify for the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028. 

“I'm so blessed to be the first to do this,” Eala said after her coming back from a 1-5 deficit in the third and final set Sunday. “I take so much pride in representing my country. It makes what I do bigger than myself, and it adds meaning to what I do.

“I'm very ambitious. Although there was no one from my country who did this before or was successful in tennis, I took inspiration from anyone I could; from my family, from my brother.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news, views and chismis from an AANHPI perspective, follow me on Threads, on X, BlueSky or at the blog Views From the Edge.