CHICAGO - Hollywood's central casting doesn't exactly have a set template on what a star looks and sounds like, but possessing certain qualities are a surefire indication.
A quiet charm. Mad, ungodly skills. And a name that rolls off the tongue nicely.
Alex Eala checks all the boxes, making the 19-year old lefty from Quezon City so easy to root for as she navigates the competitive world of professional women's tennis.
With a still ongoing historic run at the prestigious Miami Open, Eala has captivated the sports universe by razing through the tournament with a buzzsaw, demolishing everyone in her path and taking her wild card entry straight to the semifinals.
READ How big a boost is Miami dream run to Alex Eala's career? Massive
That's what the audacity of believing can do. Flip the improbable into doable, turn doubt into confidence.
"I think I've been loving the way that I'm there on court and I'm trusting my shots," Eala, who now lives in Mallorca, Spain where she graduated at the Rafa Nadal Academy, told the Tennis Channel after disposing of Iga Swiatek in the quarterfinals, 6-2, 7-5.
GIANT KILLER.
With five Grand Slam titles to her name, the New York Times aptly described the No.2-ranked Swiatek as "the most mercilessly dominant women's player in the last three years."
But on Wednesday afternoon (early Thursday morning in Manila), under the searing Florida sun that baked Hard Rock Stadium, the 23-year old Swiatek was just another victim of Eala's punishing service returns.
Before dispatching the former No. 1 player from Poland, Eala beat Katie Volynets in the first round. She then conquered Grand Slam winners Jelena Ostapenko and Madison Keys in the second and third rounds and advanced to the quarters after her Round 4 opponent, Paula Badosa, withdrew due to injury.
Beating Swiatek was "a very slim chance," tennis legend Martina Navratilova, now a broadcast analyst, said. Rightly so as Eala was a plus 850 underdog against a minus 1400 favorite.
Instead, Eala made it look easy, beating Swiatek in straight sets and breaking serve eight times by winning 11 out of 22 points on the Polish star's weak second serve. Eala, on the other hand, converted 66.7 percent of her first serve to keep Swiatek at bay..
"I wasn't expecting her to hit so flat," Swiatek said of Eala's strokes that darted at her so fast but died quickly, making return volleys increasingly more difficult.
CLOSER TO THE TOP.
Up next for Alex in the semifinals is 31-year old veteran Jessica Pegula, ranked fourth in the world and a finalist in the 2024 US Open. It's going to be another challenge that will require toughness and poise beyond Eala's years.
By making it to the Final Four, Eala raked in 390 WTA points, improving her place in the WTA live ranking from 140 to 75. And her guaranteed prize purse now sits at US $332,160 or a whopping P18.9 million.
With her burnished status, Eala automatically qualifies to the main draw of all the grand slam tournaments beginning with the French Open in May, Wimbledon in July, the US Open in August and the Australian Open next January.
Thanks to a robust support group led by her parents and brother, the prodigy has circled the globe sharpening her racket and building her inner strength.
The journey she and her family took echoes the lines of a Shania Twain ballad.
"Looks like we made it. Look how far we've come, my baby. We mighta took the long way. We know we'd get there someday."
Indeed, Alex Eala has arrived at the xanadu called stardom.
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