MIAMI, Florida — Alexandra 'Alex' Eala may have entered the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Miami Open as a huge underdog, but facing a tough opening match against Ukraine-born American netter Katie Volynets, the Filipino tennis prodigy—ranked 140th in the world—shocked the world's number 73 with a hard-fought 6-3, 7-6 victory.

Eala's win gave her a boost in confidence as she made a statement in the tournament's main draw debut by edging Volynets, whom she had never defeated in the past.

The highest ranked player that Eala has defeated was then world No. 41 Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine in 2024. Volynets holds victories over Veronika Kudermetova and Mirra Andreeva of Russia, Ons Jabeur of Tunisia and Sofa Kenin of the United States—all of whom formerly ranked in the top 10 in the world.

The 19-year-old Filipina has made the second round of WTA events only twice in her young career—in the 2021 WTA 250 Cluj-Napoca Winners Open in Romania and the WTA 1000 Mutua Madrid Open in Spain.

On the other hand, the 24-year-old Volynets has made the third round of the 2022 Australian Open and second round of the French Open (2022 and 2024) and the 2024 US Open. She also made the 3rd round of two WTA 1000 tournaments in 2024, the Indian Wells Open and the China Open.

Eala’s next challenge is set against Latvia’s Jeļena Ostapenko, the WTA World No. 5 and 2017 French Open champion. With her victory over Volynets, she will now try to further solidify her status as a rising star proudly representing the Philippines on one of tennis’ biggest stages.