THERE are about 450,000 Filipinos working and residing in Dubai, making up 21 percent of the city’s population. And when Filipina tennis sensation Alex Eala needs her countrymen to back her up — they show up in a frenzy.
Eala continues to draw a huge crowd, mostly Filipinos, at the Aviation Tennis Centre where she has won against her first three opponents in the 2026 Dubai Tennis Championships.
When world No. 40 Eala battled No. 32 Sorana Cirstea of Romania in the round of 16 on Thursday morning (Manila time), fans at the stadium display the classic Filipino humor.
“Alex may pansit sa bahay (Alex, there’s noodles in the house),” a fan wrote in her placard.
“Alex sagot ko shawarma mo later (Alex I’ll treat you to shawarma later),” another one wrote.
In the quarterfinal round late Thursday night, Eala faced world No. 4 Coco Gauff, an 11-time WTA singles champion and 10-time WTA doubles winner.
Gauff, a former doubles partner of Eala, noticed the jam-packed crowd at the stadium.
“I know you guys are probably here for Alex. I’m sorry to make you wait,” Gauff said after winning a three-set match against Elise Mertens of Belgium.
“If I’m not mistaken, I think some of you guys are cheering for me, so I appreciate it a lot. I hope you guys enjoy the next match. But thank you for cheering me now,” she added.
Drawing strength from the partisan crowd, Eala advanced to the quarterfinals after a hard-fought 7-5, 6-4 victory against Cirstea.
This isn’t the first time Eala was energized by the cheering Filipino crowd in Dubai.
Following an exhausting 6-1, 7-6 (5) win against No. 8 Jasmine Paolini in the second round, Eala expressed her heartfelt gratitude to the fans.
“In the tiebreak, I was trying everything to keep myself in check, and in the change of ends.... I was thinking, this stadium is full of Filipinos,” she said.
“I thought, how many of them were probably praying for me to win. So I really had to give it everything I got.”