Alex Eala has been ‘one to watch’ since her breakout tournament at the Miami Open in 2025, but she truly came of age at this year’s Washington Open.
Eala produced a terrific set of performances to dispatch Qinwen Zheng, Leylah Fernandez, Elina Svitolina, Naomi Osaka, and Jessica Pegula to win her first WTA title.
The latter of those three opponents were all the top three seeds in the tournament, and she now has eight victories against top 10 players in 2026.
Eala has hit a serious vein of form in the summer months and Kim Clijsters believes it’s down to a ‘tactical difference’ the Filipina has made.
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“Physically her body looks a lot stronger than what she was back then [in 2025] and of course you know she’s she’s a woman now,” said Clijsters on her podcast Love All.
“I felt like she was still a young girl and and when she came up, so I think that’s where she’s made a lot of strides as well to be able to weaken [opponents] and the list of names games that you named that she beat like you have to be physically capable of counter punching.
“Like there’s a lot of hard hitters in there, a lot of long rallies that she like that always has to play long matches. And so the body has to be ready to take on that demand. And to me that’s the the first thing that stands out.
“What I think is in general for everybody else, even if you’re not a tennis fan or you don’t watch tennis often, is her movement, right? She moves really really well. What I like to look at, and I call it home base, like where she runs back to in between her shots.
“Like she doesn’t wait when she gets pushed back. Like she doesn’t wait in the back of the court or in the middle of the back of the court. She takes those steps forward and is always looking to cut the corners and to just yeah take time away from her opponent which is that combination is there’s a lot of players who move really well side to side but they don’t just don’t cut the corners when they when they have the chance.”
Clijsters believes Eala’s new-found form is also down to her brilliant return of serve, which she was most impressed with at the Washington Open.
“To me those two things stand out for me in her in her movement and then I think her anticipation, I don’t think I noticed it as much as maybe this week where especially in Osaka was to me the first time where I started noticing how well she’s reading her opponent’s serves.
“Osaka can can really hide her serve direction very well and she at times is standing like a foot like into the court and still getting to the return on time and to the serve like first serves like good kick serves from Osaka.
“I think when it comes down to like a tactical difference that she made this week or that she’s made over the last few months and that stood out for me this week is her serve return positioning and the way that she’s been able to attack first and second serve of good servers and made it really tough.
“She’s a left-hander so we know that that’s always a little bit tricky for a lot of players. Placing her serve better. It’s not the hardest serve, but she places it well. Good variety. So, yeah, a lot of great things I feel like that she’s been adding on to and that she’s been improving over time.”
Eala will next play at the Canadian Open, with a very short turnaround from lifting the trophy at the Washington Open.
The Filipina star has been given a first round bye at the Toronto event, due to her seeding, and she will play
in the second round.
