Filipino 19-year-old Alexandra Eala stunned Australian Open winner Madison Keys 6-4, 6-2 in the Round of 32 at the Miami Open on Sunday.
Eala, in the field as a wild card, had won just three WTA 1000-level matches in her young career before taking down the fifth-seeded Keys in one hour and 27 minutes.
Keys hit five aces to Eala’s one but also committed four double faults. Eala pushed Keys to break point 13 times, converting six of them.
Eala also had a more consistent first serve, winning 58.5 percent of those points (24 of 41) while Keys scored on 46.3 percent (19 of 41).
Eala’s next opponent will be No. 10 seed Paula Badosa of Spain, who topped No. 20 seed Clara Tauson of Denmark 6-3, 7-6 (3).
No. 2 seed Iga Swiatek of Poland battled through a tight first set to defeat No. 27 seed Elise Mertens of Belgium 7-6 (2), 6-1.
Swiatek lost a 5-2 lead in the first set and fell behind on the opening point of the tiebreaker before taking control of the match. She saved 4 of 6 break points she faced while converting 5 of 6 chances to break Mertens.
“In the first set, my serve wasn’t working perfectly,” Swiatek said in her on-court interview. “I’m glad I was patient enough to just work for it, and in the second set I felt much better.”
Swiatek’s Round of 16 opponent is No. 22 seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, who fought past Czech 15th seed Karolina Muchova 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.
No. 23 seed Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine needed just 58 minutes to breeze past Russia’s Anna Blinkova 6-2, 6-1.
Three more matches were on the docket for the late afternoon and evening: No. 4 seed Jessica Pegula against Russian No. 32 seed Anna Kalinskaya; Emma Raducanu of Great Britain against McCartney Kessler; and 11th seed Mirra Andreeva of Russia, last week’s champion at Indian Wells, against No. 17 Amanda Anisimova.
–Field Level Media
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