IF this tennis match was a hospital visit, Alex Eala would have been given the final rites after her opponent, the formidable and big-serving Clara Tauson, raced to a 5-1 lead in the third and deciding set of their first-round encounter at the US Open.
The boisterous, predominantly pro-Eala crowd, was eerily muted as the 22-year-old Tauson surged ahead and looked imperious, the scent of her impending victory hanging in the air.
She was outhustling, outplaying, and outserving the 20-year-old Filipina star whose second-set meltdown showed no sign she could come back fighting in the third.
COLUMN: Alex Eala pulls off dramatic US Open comeback vs Clara Tauson
But come back she did. With the 8,000 spectators behind her, which made Tauson complain to the umpire that they were distracting her, Eala found her next wind.
She won all the next five games to take the lead at 6-5, taking her first match point on Tauson’s serve. But the formidable Dane was not finished. She held serve, tied the match at 6-6, and the two went to a first-to-reach-10 tiebreak.
Finally, after two hours and 36 minutes and five match points, Eala pulled off the most scintillating, sweetest win of her young and promising career, 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (13-11), making history as the first Filipina to win in the main draw of a tennis major.
When Tauson’s forehand went long for the final point, Eala briefly lay on her back, tears in her eyes, as she might do if she wins the US Open championship itself.
She must have felt like a champ. This was payback for the harrowing and heartbreaking experiences from her last two major appearances where she lost in the first round.
Both matches also took three sets. At the French Open, she was beaten by Emiliana Arango, 0-6, 6-2, 6-3, and at Wimbledon, by Barbara Krejikova, 6-3, 2-6, 6-1.
This time, against the tougher and higher-ranked Dane, the Filipina, ranked No 75 to her rival’s No.15, did not go gently into the New York night. It did not matter that Tauson slammed 12 aces against none for her.
Eala did not flinch. She hustled, she fought back, and she scored clean winners against the Danish star in a tortuous tiebreak where Eala never trailed while Tauson stayed afloat, aided in part by Eala’s errors.
Finally, on the fourth tiebreak match point, the suspense ended and the nervous crowd finally breathed. At home, thousands more followed the game in the wee hours of Monday and had a morning to remember.
One must still give credit to Tauson who had to deal with a raucous and even unruly crowd, rooting ferociously for Eala, and clapping at the Dane’s errors and double faults, a no-no in tennis crowd behavior.
But Tauson must also take the blame for losing her cool, particularly in the decisive moment on the third set when she served for the match a second time and complained that an Eala volley, 5-4, 15-30, hit the ball before it crossed the net.
The umpire reviewed the disputed volley on video and declared it was legal, but Tauson continued with her protest. When she finally went back to play, she made two double faults, and Eala went to tie the match at 5-5.
What's next for Eala
Next for Eala is either Cristina Bucsa of Spain or Claire Liu of the US. They will play on Tuesday (Manila time), with Bucsa the favorite because Liu will be coming from qualifying, where she had to win three matches to enter the main draw.
Bucsa is ranked world No. 93 while Liu is currently ranked No. 371. But as Eala has proven, rankings do not matter as much as grit and a never-say-die attitude.
Not incidentally, Eala’s payday is getting larger. If she loses, and hopefully she does not, she gets $154,000 (about P8.7 million). But everyone knows Eala is not out for the immediate paycheck. There is a bigger goal.
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