FILIPINO tennis ace Alex Eala won the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) grass-court “Star of the Swing” fan vote by a landslide.
Eala accumulated 89 percent of the total votes or 2,164 out of 2,442 users who signed up and voted in WTA’s website poll which ended on Friday.
The poll posted the question: “From Queen’s to Wimbledon and everything in between, who was your standout performer of the 2026 grass-court swing?”
Filipino fans likely dominated the voting demographic as newly-minted Wimbledon champ Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic gained 176 votes or 7 percent only of the total votes.
Wimbledon finalist and Bad Homburg champion Karolina Muchova ranked third with a 3 percent share of the votes or 72.
Bad Homburg finalist Naomi Osaka placed fourth with 1 percent or 17 votes
Donna Vekic, the new Queen’s club champ who was fondly called “Tita Donna” by Filipino fans during the Philippine Women’s Open last January, was the fifth most voted in the poll with seven.
Wimbledon doubles champ Guo Hanyu and Kristina Miadenovic (3), Eastbourne champ Madison Keys (2), and Berlin finalist Jessica Pegula (1) shared the remaining six votes in the poll.
The Eala case
While Filipinos likely dominated the voting demographic, Eala’s case as the 2026 grass season “Star of the Swing” carried solid merit, too.
Eala posted a 12-4 win-loss card, third best in the season after Noskova (13-1) and Muchova (12-2).
The Filipino netter started her tear with a perfect run for the 125 Birmingham title early June.
After a second-round exit at The Queen’s Club, Eala reached the 500 Berlin Open semifinals.
In that tear during the third week of June, Eala defeated world No. 2 Elena Rybakina and No. 8 Elina Svitolina back-to-back (second round, quarterfinal).
Eala made a first-round exit in Bad Homburg but bounced back big time in Wimbledon, where she became the first Filipino singles player to be seeded at No. 29.
The 21-year-old turned it up a notch and became the first Filipino singles player to reach the London grass major fourth round.
Eala defeated Renata Zarazua, Maya Joint, and defending champ Iga Swiatek before falling to Jasmine Paolini in the last 16.
The lefty netter achieved a new career-high rank of No. 28 following her historic Wimbledon run.
