Alex Eala admits that she is “blessed” to have made Filipino tennis history in 2025 despite setting her sights on “very ambitious” goals for the future.

World No 61 Eala, who has reached the last eight of this week’s SP Open in Sao Paulo, has been one of the biggest tennis stories of 2025, with the 20-year-old setting numerous milestones for her country across recent months.

Back in March, Eala became the first Filipina woman to reach the last four of a WTA 1000 event at the Miami Open and cracked the top 100 as a result, and would then make her Grand Slam debut at Roland Garros — before becoming the first player from her country to win a major match in the Open Era at the US Open.

Thanks to her run at the WTA 250 event in Sao Paulo, the 20-year-old is projected to reach a new career-high ranking next week, and she will be eyeing a run to a second WTA Tour-level final.

Eala reached her first WTA-level final at the Eastbourne Open in June, before winning the biggest title of her career at WTA 125 level in Guadalajara last week.

And, in an interview with Clay in Sao Paulo this week, the 20-year-old revealed her “dreams” of further success in the sport.

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“I feel so blessed now and it’s so difficult to grasp sometimes, because if you think about it, there are 115 million Filipinos and I am the first tennis player in history,” said Eala.

“So sometimes it’s so crazy. But I’m so happy to be able to give back to my country in any way that’s possible.

“I’m very ambitious, I think everybody has huge dreams in tennis. To be world number one and to win Grand Slams is my dream, but in the bigger scale of things to be a professional tennis player and to reach this level is something I’m already very proud of.”

Eala’s breakthrough run at the Miami Open this year was extraordinary, with the star beating three Grand Slam winners — Madison Keys, Jelena Ostapenko, and Iga Swiatek — on her way to the semi-final.

However, perhaps her most eye-catching moment this year was her opening-round win at the US Open, Eala rallying from 5-1 down in the third set to stun 14th seed Clara Tauson.

Asked to compare both of those “historic” moments, the Filipina revealed that her run in Miami held slightly more significance.

She added: “That’s a very difficult comparison — I think both were very historic.

“I would have to say Miami, though because I feel like it was… It’s difficult to say. They’re each very, very special in my heart.

“I would have to say Miami because I think it was a longer run. But obviously, my match against [Clara] Tauson was so, so emotional.”

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