Eala swats Swiatek out of Wimbledon
MANILA, Philippines — In the Bible, David used a sling to take down the giant Goliath.
On Saturday evening (Manila time,) Alex Eala used her tennis racket to slay and dethrone Iga Swiatek, 7-6(9), 6-2, in the third round of Wimbledon.
Not even World No. 3 Swiatek, the defending champion of the Grand Slam tournament, could put a stop to the freight train that is the Eala, who thus continues a historic run at Wimbledon.
Eala had to grind out the first set win, after seeing her 5-3 lead evaporate after Swiatek's back-to-back games, 5-5.
The Filipina, then, pushed the pace and took the 11th game, before Swiatek forced the tiebreak after an error by Eala, 6-6.
In the tiebreak, the two tennisters traded leads, and eventually, back-to-back errors by Swiatek gave the edge to the pride of the Philippines, 11-9.
And in the second set, the World No. 32 tennister jumped to a 4-0 lead. Swiatek, though, put herself on the board and kept herself alive with back-to-back games won, 2-4.
But Eala kept her composure, breaking the Polish's serve to go up 5-2.
And, after several deuces and back and forths, the FIlipina powered in a massive forehand winner to end the match.
She fell to the ground, emotional, to celebrate the historic victory.
“I don't know how to describe it. I mean, I've been to the second week of a slam and it's amazing for me. Iga is a phenomenal player and a really nice person, so I'm really grateful to be able to share center court with her at Wimbledon nonetheless,” she said in an emotional postmatch interview.
“Yeah, I'm really emotional and maybe for someone like Iga who has won so many slams or maybe someone like Serena or Venus [Williams,] this achievement may seem small, but for someone who grew up in the Philippines and I wanted to train with my brother and father every day after school with my ruffled socks and my light-up shoes and chubby cheeks, so to her, this is everything,” she added.
"But, just because I'm emotional, doesn't mean I'm satisfied. Next round, let's go!"
Eala punched in four aces to Swiatek's one. And while the FIlipina had fewer winners (24 to Swiatek's 32,) the Polish player had 44 unforced errors to the winner's 21.
The Filipina has now defeated the Polish player twice. She defeated Swiatek in the Miami Open last year before the then-World No. 2 got her revenge in the Madrid Open almost a month after.
Eala will now take on World No. 17 Jasmine Paolini in the fourth round of the tourney.
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