Eala can be 'among world's best,' says Toni Nadal

Alexandra Eala has taken the tennis world by storm with her run to the semi-finals in Miami. Toni Nadal, who has overseen her development since she was 14, feels the Filipino can go right to the top of the game.

The Miami Open was Alexandra Eala's breakout tournament, beating Grand Slam winners Jelena Ostapenko, Madison Keys and Iga Swiatek, en route to the semi-final, before bowing out in three sets to Jessica Pegula.

And now Toni Nadal, who has overseen Eala's progress at the Rafa Nadal Academy (RNA) in Mallorca since the Filipino's arrival there at the age of 14, believes she can become "one of the best players in the world."

We always believed in her, says Toni Nadal

"She is a girl in whom I have always believed," Toni Nadal said. "For us, it is a success because she is the girl who has been with us the longest, almost six years training here. In all this time, there has never been a complaint, neither from her nor her family. She is demonstrating the potential she has; defeating the No. 5 and the No. 2 in the same tournament is not an easy task. When you beat players of this calibre, it means that, with a slight improvement in your game, you can be among the best in the world," affirms the man who coached his nephew, Rafael, for 27 years.

Describing Eala's game and her development, Toni Nadal said: "She has a very tricky flat shot; she has managed the challenging moments of each set very well. I think a good job has been done at the RNA; everyone involved in her development should be congratulated."

"She is the girl who has been with us the longest," Toni continued. "The person who has placed the most trust in this team. I am happy watching her play, seeing the improvement she has made."

With her run in Miami, Eala will be a top-100 player for the first time come Monday and Toni Nadal said that "when you see a girl play at this level, without the need for extraordinary plays, it means that her peak level is very close."

The promise she showed in her mid-teens, culminating in winning the US Open Juniors title in 2022, seemed to have somewhat stalled since.

But this run in Miami means she will be ranked 75 next week, smashing her way into the world's top 100.

Win over Swiatek just the beginning?

Following her win over Swiatek, Eala's coach Joan Bosch described the match against the world number two as a "highly contested" encounter, "just what we were looking for her."

Once a coach to Carlos Moya, Bosch now oversees Eala's daily routine in Manacor. "We didn't want it to be easy for Iga, but for her to feel that we were going to fight from the first point to the last. At times, everything was moving very slowly, three games in 20 minutes had gone by. We needed to hit the ball very hard, make some winners because if not, Iga plays very close to the line and kills you with the first soft ball," he eschewed.