IN front of a loud de facto home crowd that filled the stands at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club Court 12, Alexandra “Alex” Eala became the first Filipino player to win a Wimbledon singles match in the Open Era early Wednesday in Manila.
Save for the sixth game of the first set that saw seven deuces, Eala outclassed Mexican Renata Zarazua, 6-1, 6-2, in the first round for her historic maiden Wimbledon win and second major victory overall after the US Open last year.
Eala ended the match in one hour and 19 minutes, blasting a down-the-line rocket off Zarazua’s return to hold serve and raise her grass court season record to 10-3.
World No. 32 and tournament No. 29 seed Eala won all her eight service games and broke world No. 75 Zarazua four times.
“I’m very happy with my first round,” Eala told the media post-match.
“I think that I played really well and kept the intensity throughout the whole match, so I’m hoping to keep this momentum going throughout the week.” The Open Era began in 1968 when professional players were finally allowed to compete in Grand Slams.
Filipinos Felicisimo Ampon and Raymundo Dero won Wimbledon singles matches before the Open Era.
Fil-American Treat Huey won multiple Wimbledon matches albeit in men’s doubles, reaching the 2016 semifinals with Belarusian Max Mirnyi.
With the win, Eala also avenged her 6-3, 4-6, 3-6 loss to Zarazua in the 2024 W100 Cary Tennis Classic quarterfinals.
Seeking another payback win Eala’s dream duel against the greatest of all time in the returning Serena Williams was dashed after Aussie Maya Joint outlasted the 23-time major champ, 6-3, 6(6)-7, 6-3, in their first round clash.
Eala got another shot at world No. 87 Joint, instead, as she looks to reach the third round of a major for the first time.
Joint defeated Eala at the 250 Eastbourne Open final a little more than a year ago, 4-6, 6-1, 7-6.
Eala faces Joint on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Eala also sees action in doubles with Czech Nikola Bartunkova on the same day.
Eala and Bartunkova face the lethal Latvian-American duo of Jelena Ostapenko and Sofia Kenin in the first round (round of 64).
There is no official time set for both matches as of this writing.
