It was already past midnight in Manila when Alex Eala finally exhaled in Abu Dhabi, three hours after she began wrestling with Aliaksandra Sasnovich—and with herself. The win sent her into the quarterfinals of the Abu Dhabi Open, but the post-game interview revealed what the scoreboard couldn’t: how much of this match lived in the chest.
Allowing the crowd’s chant of “Alex! Alex! Alex!” to crest and settle, Eala smiled, paused, and let the moment land. “Oh, I’m so happy I can’t believe this. Grabe, napasubok talaga yung tibay ng dibdib ko. At sigurado ako na kayo din, kaya congrats mga kababayan. Mabuhay at maraming salamat po,” she said in the post-game interview, sounding both stunned and grounded.
Then came the line that framed the night: “These moments are just moments I dream about. Selling out stadiums is insane. And these (types of) matches are the ones that stick with you.”
They stick because Sasnovich made sure they would. Eala acknowledged it plainly: “She started really well… especially with the serve and a lot of winners.” There was no bravado in the comeback, only grit. “I really tried to find the fight,” she said. “And in the end… I was able to find it. So, I’m really proud of that.”
Call it a “desert miracle” if you like—pulled from late-night resolve, under Abu Dhabi lights, in a WTA 500 arena worth USD1.2 million dreams. Eala is not pretending the road ahead will get easier. ““I do have a long ways to go, and each round is even more of a challenge…. So, I’ll try my best to recover and prepare,” she said. But for one surreal night, the dream spoke back—and she listened.
(Note: Earlier Wednesday, Eala teamed up with Indonesia’s Janice Tjen to outlast Leylah Fernandez and Kristina Mladenovic, 7-5, 0-6, 10-6, booking a spot in the doubles quarterfinals.)
