Alexandra Eala is a sensation.
The Filipina began her season at the ASB Classic, before travelling to the Australian Open’s former home in Kooyong, winning the exhibition event.
Eala then participated in the Australian Open – where she lost in the first round – before travelling to Manila to take part in the inaugural Philippine Women’s Open.
Does anybody else even come close to Alex Eala’s popularity right now?
Now Eala finds herself in the United Arab Emirates, where her fans have also arrived to cheer on their young star.
Simply put: Eala is quite possibly the most popular player on Tour, as demonstrated by the incredible amount of fan support she has received this year in Australia and Abu Dhabi.
Alexandra Eala is a WTA star
Wherever Alexandra Eala goes, her fans follow.
Thrice Eala has stepped onto Abu Dhabi Centre Court, and on all three occasions she has been greeted with a roar from the raucous crowd, as demonstrated by Tennis Channel footage.
The Abu Dhabi Open also revealed on Monday that the tournament achieved record fan attendance for its opening weekend; and it is hard to look past Eala’s participation when assessing why this record may have been broken.
This is far from the first time Eala’s fans have travelled en masse to support their star player. At the Australian Open, queues were witnessed coming out of Court Seven while Eala was playing Alycia Parks.
Remarkably, session-record 68,687 fans filled Melbourne Park for the tournament’s first Monday Day session – the same day Eala played Parks.
The total set a new Australian Open record for that session, surpassing the previous record of 59,621 set in 2025.
How high do you think Alexandra Eala’s ceiling is?
Eala’s influence on fan attendance is almost unprecedented: the Filipina is the star of the show at only 20 years old, and her popularity will continue to increase as her ranking increases on the WTA Tour.
Alex Eala’s upcoming Abu Dhabi matches
Eala defeated ‘close friend’ Zeynep Sonmez in the first round. If Eala defeats Aliksandra Sasnovich in the second round, she will face second seed Ekaterina Alexandrova in the quarter-finals.
Eala is also competing in the women’s doubles event alongside Indonesian star Janice Tjen.
- Alex Eala begins her season at the ASB Classic, losing in the quarter-finals
- She then wins the Kooyong Classic
- An Australian Open first-round exit follows
- Eala travels to the Philippine Women’s Open, where she reaches the quarter-finals before losing to Camila Osorio
The pair, who defeated Leylah Fernandez and Kristina Mladenovic on Tuesday, will face second seeds Shuai Zhang and Cristina Bucsa in the quarter-finals.
If Eala and Tjen advance, they will face Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls in the semi-finals.
