MELBOURNE, Australia — Alex Eala of the Philippines was unable to ride a wave of raucous crowd support to victory in her Australian Open main draw debut, falling short in a seesawing battle against American Alycia Parks.
The 20-year-old fan favourite had just about the entirety of the capacity grandstands cradling Court 6 cheering her every move, but ultimately didn’t have the answers to stop the power and aggression of her more experienced opponent, who prevailed 0-6, 6-3, 6-2 in one hour and 56 minutes.
Eala, who had bowed out in the qualifying phase at the last three Australian Opens, entered this year’s tournament at Melbourne Park as one of the most discussed and hyped players on the women’s tour, courtesy of her breakout 2025 campaign.
Putting Eala on court 6 is just dumb… https://t.co/YDejRTNZ8K
— José Morgado (@josemorgado) January 19, 2026
Last year, she made a memorable semifinal run at the Miami Open, which featured wins over Grand Slam champions Jelena Ostapenko and Madison Keys, won a Challenger event in Guadalajara, and climbed inside the world’s top 50. She began this season in rich form, reaching the semifinals at the ASB Classic in Auckland before taking out the Kooyong Classic.
The Rafa Nadal Academy talent began her first round match brightly, breaking Parks in a marathon opening game that lasted 12 minutes and featured eight break point chances. She required just 22 minutes to reel off the next five consecutive games to pocket the opening set.
But Parks raised her intensity at the top of the second frame and the shots she had been missing early began landing in play. The 25-year-old from Atlanta won 12 of the next 17 games to upset the crowd favourite and book her place in the second round of the tournament.
Parks will now face Czech Karolina Muchova, who accounted for Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian in straight sets on Monday afternoon.
More to follow…
