"She's really good": Jessica Pegula praises young Alexandra Eala after brilliant Miami Open run

America’s Jessica Pegula was full of praise for the Philippines’ young tennis star Alexandra Eala after her impressive run at the Miami Open. The 19-year-old proved to be a real surprise package in the ongoing WTA 1000 event, where her journey finally concluded on Thursday as she lost to the 2024 US Open runner-up after a hard-fought battle with a score of 7-6, 5-7, 6-3.

During her way to the semifinal, Eala defeated three Grand Slam winners. She got the better of the reigning world number two, Poland’s Iga Swiatek, in the quarterfinal in straight sets with a score of 6-2, 7-5. In the third round, the youngster defeated the 2025 Australian Open champion Madison Keys in straight sets with a score of 6-4, 6-2. In the second round, Eala secured another straight-set win against the 2017 French Open winner Latvia’s Jeļena Ostapenko with a score of 7-6, 7-5.

Pegula, after the match, was full of praise for the youngster and stated that Eala showed how good of a player she is. “She's really good, [a] really good tennis player," said Pegula. "Goes for her shots, takes the ball early. Being a lefty is always tricky. [She] competes really well. Obviously, she has beaten a lot of players this week, I don't really think she needs me to tell her that she's a great player. She proved that tonight. That was really tough.”

Talking about her own performance in the match, Pegula stated that she feels her game has improved throughout the tournament and expressed optimism about producing similar performance on Sunday as well. "I do feel like I'm serving a little bit better," said Pegula. "Hopefully I can serve well Saturday. I think that's something you have to do against her. She returns really well. I have been returning well, so I always feel like even though she's one of the best servers in the world, I can give myself a chance maybe to break her. But she's tough. She's playing with a lot of confidence. She likes, I think, a little bit quicker hard court, as well, playing one-two punch, playing an aggressive game.