A comeback in the Washington heat
Down a set and a break, Alexandra Eala looked cooked. Then she reeled off seven games in a row. The 28th-ranked Filipina beat Qinwen Zheng 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 on Tuesday in the first round of the Mubadala DC Open, sending the reigning Olympic champion out in her own Washington debut. Two hours and 26 minutes on hard court, and Eala only got stronger as it went.
She broke Zheng six times. The second set turned on one steadying hold, and from there the third became a rout. Zheng never found an answer once Eala started reading the serve and pushing returns back at her feet.
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A first over a familiar rival
This was Eala’s first win over Zheng. Their only previous meeting came at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou, a three-set semifinal that went the Chinese star’s way. Three years later the result flipped, and it fits a pattern. Over her recent run Eala has taken down Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina, top-ten names who no longer treat her as a qualifier to brush aside.
Fernandez next
Eala moves on to face seventh seed Leylah Fernandez, the defending champion, for a place in the last 16. Fernandez knows this building well. Eala, for her part, keeps turning debuts into statements.
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