Alexandra Eala kept her run rolling at the Citi Open, rallying from 5-1 down in the second set to beat defending champion Leylah Fernandez 6-2, 7-6 in the second round and move into the Washington quarterfinals.
The result was especially notable because Fernandez had already beaten Eala on clay earlier this year, taking their April meeting in Stuttgart 6-1, 6-4. This time, on hard courts in Washington, the Filipina player found a way to turn the matchup around against the No. 7 seed and end Fernandez's title defense.
Eala's path to this point has already included another major upset. Four weeks before the Citi Open, she knocked out Iga Swiatek in the Wimbledon third round, and this win means she has now dethroned a tournament's defending champion in back-to-back events.
After falling behind in the second set, Eala said she knew Fernandez had raised her level while her own dropped a little. She described those moments as tricky because you can feel things slipping away even as you try to respond. For her, the answer was patience, a willingness to keep working through the set, and a strong mentality focused on finding solutions.
The second set became a test of that approach. Fernandez moved ahead 5-1, but Eala clawed back, won five straight games, and eventually closed out the tiebreak 7-1 to complete the comeback.
For Eala, the win adds another statement result to a breakthrough stretch and sends her deeper into the tournament. For Fernandez, it ends a hard-fought title defense after a match that slipped away late despite the early advantage in the second set.
