Nadal shouts out academy product Eala on Miami breakthrough

Rafael Nadal has been keeping tabs on the performance of his tennis academy's alumna, Alexandra Eala, during her WTA 1000 breakthrough at the Miami Open.

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Eala, 19, has made history this week for both herself and her home nation this week at Hard Rock Stadium with three victories, marking a milestone for Filipinos in tennis. Given a wild card to the main draw, the World No. 140 defeated American Katie Volynets in the first round before topping No. 25 seed Jelena Ostapenko, 7-6(2), 7-5. The two wins gave her a showdown with Australian Open winner Madison Keys on Sunday -- a match Eala won resoundingly, 6-4, 6-2.

The win against Ostapenko made Eala the first woman representing the Philippines to defeat a Top 30 player since the beginning of the PIF WTA Rankings in 1975 (let alone the Top 10). She is the only player, male or female, from the Philippines to hold a world ranking in pro tennis.

And as Eala's worked her way through the tournament's first week, Nadal, her idol who retried from tennis last year, is cheering the teen on from afar.

After her win over Ostapenko, Nadal celebrated Eala's latest breakthrough with a post on X, formerly Twitter.

"Congratulations Alex! What a great win for you and for [the Philippines]," Nadal wrote.

The left-hander, who, also like Nadal, plays with Babolat racquets, has said that moving to Mallorca to train at the former world No. 1's namesake academy when she was 13 was transformative for her. When she again made history by winning the junior US Open three years ago, Eala's star power at home (the Philippines has a population of nearly 115 million) exploded: She boasted more than 126,000 Instagram followers entering Miami (and has gained nearly 30,000 more during her run), while landing on magazine covers like Tater and Vogue regionally.

Amidst growing fame, Eala has said lessons she's learned from Nadal have helped her stay focused on improving her game.

"He is so grounded and he has achieved more than anything I could dream of," she once told Philippine broadcast network GMA, "and the fact that he is still so nice to everyone around here is very admirable from him."

Eala next faces No. 2 seed and former champion Iga Swiatek in the quarterfinals after receiving a walkover from the injured Paula Badosa in the Round of 16.