MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Teenager Alexandra Eerra unleashed another upset at the Miami Open on Wednesday, knocking off five-time Grand Slam champions and second-seeded Iga Swiatek 6-2, 7-5 in the quarter finals.
The 19-year-old left-hander, who received a wild card at the WTA 1000 event, is the only Filipino player on the professional tennis tour, ranked 140th.
During this history-making run, Ira reached her first WTA semi-final in an hour and 37 minutes, the third major champion.
“I’m totally distrustful right now. I’m on Cloud9,” Ela said in an on-court interview.
She will then face the winner of Jessica Pegra and Emma Radukanu’s Wednesday match.
EALA currently rules Australia’s open champion Madison Keys, who beat 2017 French Open Champion Jelena Ostapenko and ranked fifth.
She never even beat a top 40 player to Miami. After Swiatek hit a long time at match points, Eala looked up and looked teary.
“I really tried to soak it all up because this had never happened to me before, so I was looking at the screen,” Eala said.
Swiatek broke Eala in the first game of the match, but the teenager broke quickly. The first two games took 15 minutes.
At setpoint, Swiatek finished the set in 42 minutes.
Although Ira represents the Philippines, she has trained at Rafael Nadal Tennis Academy for the past six years at Marolca.
“I think I think it makes a difference,” Ela said.
Swiatek serves only twice in the match, and Eala Downing Service returns with Big Forehand. It marked Swiatek’s third loss against a player ranked outside the top 100 in the WTA main draw.
“It didn’t surprise me that she was left-handed, but certainly she’s all coming in,” Swiatek said. She was pretty loose and I just went for it.”