\n Published\u00a0Jun 19, 2026 11:41 am\n <\/p>\n
Alex Eala is learning to give herself grace under pressure as she navigates the highly competitive Women\u2019s Tennis Association (WTA) Tour.<\/p>\n
That mindset paid off in a big way as the Filipina tennis star displayed composure in shocking world No. 2 Elena Rybakina, 7-5, 6-4, to barge into the quarterfinals of the 2026 Berlin Open in Germany early Friday, June 19.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think you have to give yourself grace while also being brave,\u201d said the 21-year-old Eala moments after her stunning victory.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn my game in general, a highlight word would be to be brave, and it makes a big difference when I\u2019m able to do that,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Indeed, Eala remained unfazed against Rybakina, weathering the two-time Grand Slam champion\u2019s booming serves by steadily holding her ground throughout the one hour, 50 minute match.<\/p>\n
She had to dig deep from a 1-4 first-set deficit, mounting a ferocious comeback and refusing to back down against one of the best players in the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was shaking during match point, too, but I\u2019m really happy with today, of course. It could have gone either way, I think, because there were really tight moments in both sets,\u201d Eala said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd of course, she\u2019s an amazing player and she\u2019s the one to beat, so I\u2019m happy to be able to share the court with her again,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Her victory over Rybakina marked the fifth Top 10 win of Eala\u2019s career, further underscoring her emergence as a rising force on the Tour.<\/p>\n
It also somehow avenged her straight-set, third-round loss to Rybakina at the Italian Open last May.<\/p>\n
But Eala is not resting on her laurels as she next faces another formidable player in Elina Svitolina in the quarters.<\/p>\n
The 31-year-old Svitolina, seeded sixth in the tournament and ranked No. 8 in the world, boasts of multiple semifinal and quarterfinal appearances in all Grand Slam events. She is coming off a quick 6-3, 6-2 win over Eva Lys to reach the quarters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published\u00a0Jun 19, 2026 11:41 am Alex Eala is learning to give herself grace under pressure as she navigates…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21414,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[8472,1047,246,1710,8474,8473],"class_list":["post-21413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-elena-rybakina","tag-composure","tag-eala","tag-elena-rybakina","tag-in","tag-off","tag-pays"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}