World No. 2 Iga Swiatek all praises for Alex Eala after major upset in Miami Open: 'She went all out'
Tennis World No. 2 Iga Swiatek was all praises for Alex Eala after the Filipino phenom defeated her in a major upset during the Miami Open on March 26 (March 27, Philippine time).
Eala, ranked No. 140, beat Swiatek in the quarterfinals, 6 to 2 and 7 to 5.
In a post-match press conference, Swiatek took note of Eala's strong performance, especially since the 19-year-old Filipino is left-handed.
“The fact that she was left-handed didn’t surprise me, but the truth is, she went all out," she said.
"She made those returns quite long, and it wasn’t easy to return those shots," she added. "Plus, she was very relaxed and went all out. She felt the rhythm was good, and that helped her."
Swiatek said she didn't know Eala "was going to play so flat" and "was very aggressive and stayed on target the whole match."
"And a lot of these shots were coming out of nowhere," she added. 'But I could still clearly see that she was trying to push forward and pressure me. So it worked out pretty well for her."
Despite improving in the second set, Swiatek noted that she couldn't sustain Eala's game.
"So I thought I was kind of back on my feet and feeling the game a little bit better. But I didn’t really think about her," she said, referring to whether she was hoping for Eala's energy levels to drop.
She also bared that she "wasn't ready" for the next ball.
"I’m sure I made a lot of mistakes, but I think I also made mistakes when I was crossing the ball," she said.
Despite the upset, Swiatek said she doesn't want to think about it too much.
"It’s good to learn from defeats, but yes, there are other things ahead, and I’m happy we’re going to be playing on clay now," she said. "I don’t know what it will be like this year, but I’m definitely going to work hard to be ready for the first tournaments.”
Eala is advancing to the semifinals. She's waiting for the winner between Britain's Emma Raducanu and America's Jessica Pegula.
She has been on fire in the tournament. Last March 24, she defeated Australian Open champion, America's Madison Keys, making her the first Filipino to beat a Top 10 opponent since the ranking system came into being 50 years ago.
