Alexandra Eala reveals the ‘historic’ reason why she was so emotional after losing her first career WTA final

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Alexandra Eala‘s historic 2025 season keeps getting better, as she continues to impress on the WTA Tour.

Early this year, Eala qualified for the Miami Open semi-finals, beating three Grand Slam champions: Jelena Ostapenko, Madison Keys, and Iga Swiatek, in Florida.

After struggling on the clay, Eala was back to her best on grass, producing several impressive displays at the Eastbourne International.

When Eala beat Varvara Gracheva in her semi-final match, she became the first Filipino woman to qualify for a WTA final.

Standing between Eala and a historic first tour-level title was Australian teenager Maya Joint, who had knocked out Emma Raducanu earlier in the week.

Losing out in a deciding-set tiebreaker, Eala failed to convert four championship points as she finished as runner-up to Joint, 4-6, 6-1, 6-7 [10-12].

Overcome with emotion after the match, Eala explained why the result meant so much to her during the trophy presentations.

Alexandra Eala says making ‘history’ for the Philippines made her ‘so emotional’ at Eastbourne

After giving credit to Joint in her runners-up speech, Eala shared her thoughts on the final.

“First of all, I want to congratulate Maya [Joint], on a great match and a great tournament. You did really well, and I think if I were to lose to anyone this week, it would definitely be you, so congratulations,” she said.

“Everybody who came to watch, you guys made it so special, it’s my first WTA final. It’s a big deal for me and for my country too.

“It’s historic, it’s the first time any Filipino has done anything. I guess that’s also why I’m so emotional, but you know it’s only the first. I’ll definitely work hard to do more.”

The 20-year-old then looked ahead to Wimbledon, admitting she doesn’t want to dwell on the loss for long.

“Wimbledon is next week, hopefully I’ll forget about this match,” said Eala.

“It’s been a crazy year, I’ll remember this week and this moment forever, so thank you, everybody.”

Eala will be back in the headlines before too long, as she gets set to take on defending champion Barbora Krejcikova in her opening match at Wimbledon.

Making her Wimbledon and Centre Court debut, the youngster will have a chance to make even more history on Tuesday, July 1.

Alexandra Eala edges closer to the top 50 with Eastbourne final appearance

When the next set of rankings are released on Monday, Eala will be a top 60 player for the first time, debuting at 56th.

Trailing world number 50, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, by just 108 points, it likely won’t be long before Eala breaks through.

Perhaps what’s more impressive is how well Eala has performed despite her relative youthfulness.

There are only three players under the age of 21 ranked better than Eala on the WTA Tour: Joint (41st), Linda Noskova (27th), and Mirra Andreeva (7th).

Having now proved her talents on hard and grass courts in 2025, the 20-year-old made it clear that she’s here to stay.

Maya Joint congratulates Alexandra Eala on an ‘amazing year’

The victorious Australian was quick to congratulate Eala during her speech after the Eastbourne final.

“First of all, Alex [Eala], amazing playing, great week, we’ll definitely play in many more finals,” she said.

“You’ve been having such an amazing year, so great job to you and your team, and all the best of luck for next week and the rest of the year.”

At 19 and 20 years of age, this likely won’t be the last time we see Joint and Eala battle it out on the WTA Tour.

Like Eala, Joint will now turn her attention to Wimbledon, where she will take on number 19 seed Liudmila Samsonova in her opening match.