Eala steals the show on a day of upsets in the fiery crucible of Wimbledon

After the defending Wimbledon champion Iga Świątek was forced to go deep into the well to get past Taylor Townsend in the first round earlier last week, the tears came quickly. A fourth-round exit at the French Open before a loss in her only match so far this year on grass meant form was not on her side, and her emotional response to that win was telling. Breezing past Karolina Pliskova in her next match suggested the ship had been steadied. And then Świątek ran into Alexandra Eala.

In blazing sunshine yesterday afternoon, it was Eala’s turn to weep tears of joy on Centre Court. The 21-year-old Philippines player hinted in her Wimbledon debut last year at this kind of potential, taking the 2024 champion Barbora Krejčíková the distance in a first-round defeat. A year later she was featuring on Centre Court for the first time, against another defending champion in Świątek, and seemed unperturbed by the occasion. It was Eala who clinched an exhausting first set tie-break, winning over the crowd in the process, as Świątek smiled wryly after blazing a forehand beyond the baseline.

Once Eala had raced into a 4-0 lead in the second set, an unlikely upset was within her grasp. She ruthlessly put away break points, claiming five out of seven, as Świątek’s double faults, five in total in the match, hindered her chances of a comeback. It took three match points but a forehand winner by the left-handed Eala confirmed an outcome that had long felt inevitable. The defending champion was out, and the signs had been there that it was coming.

Wimbledon crowds love an upset and Eala’s triumph was warmly received as she collapsed behind the base line, hands to her face and the emotion sweeping over her, before explaining how winning on Centre Court meant everything for the little girl from Philippines with “my ruffled socks and light-up shoes and chubby cheeks”, who trained with her brother and grandfather after school. The exit of the number three seed in Świątek followed the end of number two seed Elena Rybakina’s bid a couple of hours beforehand, falling to Elise Mertens and blowing the women’s singles wide open this week. It also gives extra juice to an enticing matchup today between Aryna Sabalenka, the world number one and a three-time semi-finalist here at Wimbledon, and Naomi Osaka. This is already Osaka’s best Wimbledon, reaching the fourth round for the first time, and she is yet to drop a set.

Sabalenka and Osaka have already met three times this year, with the Belarusian winning every time. But after the exits of Rybakina and Świątek, why should the upsets stop there? The victor in another fascinating fourth-round meeting today between Belinda Bencic, a semi-finalist last year, and last year’s French Open winner Coco Gauff will also fancy their chances heading into the second week.

They will not be joined by Świątek, who demolished Amanda Anisimova so ruthlessly in last year’s final. Composing herself, Eala said: “Because I’m emotional does not mean I’m satisfied.” She could make some impact.

Photograph by Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images