OVER the last fortnight, Alex Eala's professional tennis career has made an unbelievable leap that even her team perhaps didn't see it coming.
At least not this early.
From an aspiring teenager knocking on the WTA Tour door and patiently waiting for her big break, the Filipina's career trajectory - and life - is about to change dramatically thanks to her dream run in the WTA 1000 Miami Open tournament.
After entering the tournament as a wildcard, the 19-year old has taken down three seeded players and won by walkover against another to make a phenomenal run to her first-ever semifinal appearance in a WTA Tour event.
READ World No. 4 Pegula stands in Alex Eala's way in Miami Open semis
The players that she beat? Well, they're anything but ordinary.
Victim No. 1, Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, is ranked No. 25 in the world and won the French Open in 2017. The next victim, Madison Keys, is the reigning Australian Open champion, a former world No. 1 and currently No. 5 in the rankings.
After a walkover against world No. 11 and former world No. 2 Paula Bedosa of Spain in the Round of 16, Eala pulled off the biggest win of her career when she stunned world No. 2 and five-time Grand Slam winner Iga Swiatek in the quarters.
In all, she has taken down four players inside the Top 25 in the world - three of them grand slam winners - and reached the semifinals of a WTA Tour event for the first time alongside world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, No. 6 Jasmine Paolini, and her next opponent No. 4 Jessica Pagula.
The semis has yet to be played but already, the boost to Eala's career is pretty massive.
As per the WTA live rankings, Eala has climbed from No. 140 in the world to a high of No. 75, which would put her comfortably inside the top 104 players who will be seeded into the season's next three grand slams beginning with the French Open in May as well as the other WTA 1000 events this year.
Massive rankings points boost
As it is, Eala, who has garnered 524 points from 31 events, stands to earn 390 points by reaching the semis alone at the Miami Open, which is one of 10 events that are ranked just below the grand slams and the WTA Finals in terms of ranking points and prize money on offer.
From its title name alone, the Miami Open 1000 is one of 10 WTA events that offer 1000 ranking points to its champion.
This dream run should also be financially rewarding for Team Eala, beginning with her parents who have sacrificed so much since she was a kid, just so their daughter can have the opportunity to become one of the best players in the world.
A semifinal appearance guarantees Eala a paycheck for US$332,160 (over P19 million), which would climb to $597,890 (P34M) if she reaches the finals and a cool $1,124,380 (P64.5M) if she is crowned champion. Prior to the Miami Open, she has won a grand total of $32,000 this season.
But the biggest boost should be to Eala's confidence and morale.
After years toiling in the junior ranks and lower-rung circuits dreaming of making it to the top level, this magical run has given Alex Eala the belief that she can beat any player in the world and, in fact, now belongs among them.
Playing with no fear
"I'm loving the way I've been out there on court, I'm trusting my shots, and I have a great team to tell me that I can do it," she said in the post-match interview after breaking eight times in the 10 times Swiatek came to serve.
"Not be afraid to miss," she said when asked what changed between then and now. "I cannot be afraid to continue what I have to do."
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The Eala-Pegula duel will be shown live on Blast TV app starting at 8:30 a.m. on Friday, March 28. Its linear simulcast of Premier Sports 2 on all platforms including cable; Direct to Home; Blast TV app and connected TV like Samsung TV plus.
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