NEW YORK (Reuters) -Alexandra Eala became the first Filipino player to win a main draw match at a Grand Slam in the professional era, as she beat 14th seed Clara Tauson in an opening round upset at the U.S. Open on Sunday.
Eala burst into tears amid raucous support from the Grandstand crowd as she produced a stunning comeback from 5-1 down in the third set to beat the Dane 6-3 2-6 7-6 (11) after Tauson had twice served for the match.
“It means a lot, I think you could see by my reaction,” Eala told reporters.
“Everything just made it so special – from who I was playing to the crowd, it was amazing. I’m so blessed to be the first to do this. I take so much pride in representing my country.
“I’m so blessed to be the first to do this. It makes what I do bigger than myself, and it ads meaning to what I do.”
The 20-year-old is no stranger to big moments at Flushing Meadows, having made history in 2022 as the first Filipino to win a junior Grand Slam singles title.
The historic day for Southeast Asia was sweetened by Janice Tjen, who became the first Indonesian in 22 years to win a match at a major. Tjen beat 24th seed Veronika Kudermetova 6-4 4-6 6-4 and will face Britain’s Emma Raducanu in the second round.
“I feel proud to be able to do this for my country,” Tjen said. “Hopefully like this, by me making appearance here, will inspire more tennis players, like, younger kids to play tennis and also believing that they can be here too.”
Eala said that succeeding alongside Tjen made her achievement even more meaningful.
“I’m so happy to see the progress of tennis in Southeast Asia in general,” she said. “I’ve known (Tjen) for a long time, so I’m happy for her. I’m happy that players from this region are coming up and starting to be successful.”
Eala will aim to carry her momentum into Wednesday’s second-round match against either Spain’s Cristina Bucsa or American qualifier Claire Liu.
“I think the key for my upcoming match is just to come in with the same mentality, same fight,” she added.
“Right now I’m just focused on recovering. That was a very tough match, but I think this will help long-term.”
(Reporting by Janina Nuno Rios in New York; Editing by Stephen Coates)
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