Alex Eala thinks she has a complete grasp of the enormity of her latest accomplishment.

“Like I said, I take so much pride in representing my country,” she told a press conference in Flushing Meadows, New York, after her milestone victory in the US Open. “It makes what I do bigger than myself, and it gives—it adds meaning to what I do.”

She has no idea.

The 20-year-old tennis star provided Filipinos the present-day heroine they badly needed on the same day the country paused to reflect on the greatness of its past.

And what a relief she was.

Trudging through a third-set deficit that seemed too deep to extricate out of, Eala left world No. 15 Clara Tauson of Denmark stunned and frustrated after an epic 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (13-11) victory in the first round of the 2025 US Open, just as National Heroes’ Day slowly crawled into the Philippine calendar early Monday morning.

The 75th-ranked Filipino battled out of a 1-5 deficit in the third set and then clawed her way out of a wobble in the tiebreak to become just the first Filipino to win a match at a Grand Slam singles tournament in the Open era.

“I’m super over the moon with what I was able to do today, especially coming back in the third. It’s a very special win for me,” Eala said.

“I was just so over the moon, and it was just such a rush of emotions,” she went on. “Like I said previously, I think so many factors made the match so special, and I’ve been on the losing side of, you know, these tight tiebreaks before, so to be on the winning side, it’s very memorable, yeah.”

Imagine the joy of those who kept the moon company until the wee hours of the morning just to watch her—and those who found in the sunrise news of her first Grand Slam singles win after a string of first-round exits.

Having faced a hard couple of weeks where government officials faced scrutiny over alleged flood control corruption and where journalists had to reckon with integrity questions, Filipinos found a brief moment to unite in celebration.

Asked what she felt her victory meant and what message it would send, Eala said: “[A]nything is possible and, you know, … dream big. I think me as a person, I’m very ambitious. Although there was no one from my country who did this before or was successful in tennis, I took inspiration from anyone I could; from my family, from my brother.

“So I think just to be ambitious and to dream big and know that you can do it, yeah.”

Tauson, flustered by a video review late in the match that went in favor of Eala, regained steam after blowing her huge third-set advantage and wiped out Eala’s 8-4 lead in the tiebreak.

But Eala somehow managed to hold on. Against an opponent who dominated her with a powerful serve (12 aces-to-none), Eala squeezed out one final rally in the end, watching Tauson’s last return sail past the baseline before dropping to the ground in what looked like a mix of relief, joy and exhaustion.

“Oh, it means a lot. I think you could see by my reaction,” Eala said. “I think everything just made it so special from who I was playing, a really good player, first round, the first main draw US Open, coming back from an injury. And obviously all of the people who watched today, the crowd was amazing.”

“I think everything in general just made the atmosphere so, so exciting, but at the same time, so tense. That’s also part of why I’m so happy. I’m so blessed to be the first to do this.”

But Eala isn’t about counting blessings at this point. Her second round match will be against either Spain’s Cristina Bucsa or American qualifier Claire Liu.

“I think the key for my upcoming match is just to come in with the same mentality, same fight,” said Eala, who won a lot of hearts among TV viewers from this part of the world when she was caught uttering what seemed like a swear phrase after clinching a point at the net.”

“Obviously I will prepare as needed. Right now I’m just focused on recovering,” Eala said. “That was a very tough match, but I think this will help long-term, not just for now, yeah.” INQ