Safi – Alexandra Eala won the Washington Open on Monday, beating top seed Jessica Pegula to become the first player from the Philippines to claim a singles title on the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Tour.
Recovering from a set down, the 21-year-old took the final 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 at the Mubadala DC Open, a WTA 500 event. Rain had pushed the match across two days after it started on Sunday.
The result lifted Eala eight places to a career-high No. 20 in the PIF WTA Rankings, making her the first Filipina to break into the top 20.
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Eala reached the final through one of the toughest runs to a title in recent years. She beat Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen, defending champion Leylah Fernandez, second seed Elina Svitolina and four-time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka, then Pegula in the final.
Svitolina, Osaka and Pegula were the tournament’s top three seeds, a run last managed by Barbora Krejcikova at Dubai in 2023.
“It’s an incredible milestone for me,” Eala told reporters. “At the beginning of the week, there’s no way I’d have thought that I’d be holding this trophy. These things creep up on you, and I hold these moments really close to me.”
Building on a steady climb since her US Open junior crown in 2022, the title marks Eala’s biggest senior honor yet. She reached the Eastbourne final last year and the fourth round at Wimbledon last month.
Large groups of Filipino fans have followed Eala around the tour, and their turnout in Washington drew praise from her opponent. “It’s amazing that you guys showed up and again, to all the Filipino fans that came out, you are helping grow tennis around the world,” Pegula said.
Eala next plays the Canadian Open in Toronto this week before the US Open, which begins on August 30.
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