Alexandra Maniego Eala (born May 23, 2005) is a Filipino professional tennis player. On August 24, 2026, she achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 18, the highest ever for a Filipino and Southeast Asian in WTA Tour history. She is the first Filipino to break into the top 20, defeat top-10 opponents, reach the fourth round of a major, reach the semifinals of a WTA 1000 event, and win a WTA Tour title, clinching her breakthrough at the 2026 Washington Open.
Eala reached a junior combined ranking of world No. 2 on October 6, 2020, and became the first Filipino to win a junior major title, winning the girls' singles title at the 2022 US Open.
Alexandra Maniego Eala was born on May 23, 2005 in Quezon City, Philippines, to Michael Eala, a business executive, and Rosemarie Maniego-Eala, Globe Telecom chief financial officer until 2024, and a former national swimmer and bronze medalist in the 100-meter backstroke at the 1985 SEA Games. Her paternal uncles are former Philippine Sports Commission chairperson and Philippine Basketball Association commissioner Noli Eala, and fashion designer Rhett Eala. Her older brother, Michael Francis "Miko" Eala, played tennis for the Pennsylvania State University Nittany Lions from 2020 to 2024.
Eala began playing tennis at age four, introduced to the sport by her maternal grandfather, Roberto Maniego, who was also her first coach.
She attended the Immaculate Conception Academy in San Juan and Colegio San Agustin in Makati before joining the Rafa Nadal Academy in Manacor, Spain. She graduated from the academy in 2023.
In 2013, Eala won the U8 division of the Little Mo International Tennis Grand Slam Championship in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, marking her first international junior success. In 2015, she captured the U11 title at the Dubrovnik Dub Bowl in Croatia. By 2017, Eala had risen to the top of the Asian Tennis Federation rankings and, alongside Priska Nugroho, was named Doubles Player of the Year by Tennis Europe. In 2018, she made history at Les Petits As in France, becoming the first wild card champion in the tournament’s history, which earned a wildcard entry to the French Open juniors.
In 2019, she helped the Philippines qualify for the ITF World Junior Tennis Finals for the first time in 26 years. Later that year, she debuted at the US Open juniors, becoming the first Filipino to qualify for a junior major main draw since 1991, and capped the season with a doubles crown at the Orange Bowl International Tennis Championships in Florida. In 2020 she cracked the ITF World Juniors top 10, reaching No. 9 in the rankings. At the Australian Open, she reached the third round in jr. singles and won her first jr. major tournament doubles title with Nugroho. Later that year, she advanced to the semifinals of the French Open jr. singles, climbing to world juniors rank No. 2—the highest by a Filipino since Felix Barrientos in 1985.
In 2021, Eala continued her rise by winning her second junior major doubles title at the French Open with Oksana Selekhmeteva. She followed with a singles‑doubles sweep at the Trofeo Bonfiglio in Milan, reached the second round at Wimbledon, and advanced to the quarterfinals of the US Open juniors. Then in 2022, she became the first Filipino to win a junior major singles title, defeating Lucie Havlíčková in the US Open final.
2020–2024: Five ITF Circuit championships
Eala turned professional in March 2020, making her debut on the ITF Women's World Tennis Tour at the W15 Monastir series in Tunisia, where she won her first match as a professional.
In January 2021, she captured her maiden ITF title at the W15 Manacor event in Spain, becoming the youngest and lowest-seeded junior reserve to do so. The victory earned her entry into the WTA rankings, where she initially broke into the top 1000. Later that year, she reached her first ITF doubles final at the W25 Platja d'Aro in Spain with partner Selekhmeteva, and made her WTA Tour debut at the Romanian Open, where she became the first Filipino to win a tour-level match.
Eala continued to gain exposure in 2022, receiving a wildcard into the Miami Open, though she exited in the opening round. That year, she also secured her second ITF singles crown at the W25 Chiang Rai in Thailand.
In 2023, she entered major competition for the first time, appearing in the Australian Open qualifiers. She had early exits at the Thailand Open, Miami Open, and Madrid Open, but claimed ITF titles at the W25 Yecla in Spain and the W25 Roehampton in the United Kingdom.
The 2024 season marked further progress, highlighted by her victory at the W100 Open Araba en Femenino in Spain—her biggest ITF singles title to date. She also collected three ITF doubles trophies, partnering with Darja Semeņistaja to win the W50 Pune in India, and with Estelle Cascino to claim the W75 Open de Seine-et-Marne in Croissy-Beaubourg, France and the W100 Open Araba en Femenino in Spain. On the WTA Tour, Eala reached the quarterfinals of the Veneto Open, her best result of the year, and advanced to the semifinals of the WTA 125 Canberra International doubles event with Laura Pigossi.
In 2024, she was unable to progress beyond the qualifying rounds at all four Grand Slam tournaments. Her 2024 campaign included first round exits at Madrid, Abu Dhabi, Guadalajara 500, Wuhan, Guangzhou, Jiujiang, and second round of Guadalajara 125.
2025: WTA 1000 semifinal, top 50
Eala began 2025 at the WTA 125 Canberra International, reaching the semifinals. She then lost in qualifiers of both the Australian Open to Jana Fett, and Singapore Open, to Simona Waltert. In March, ranked No. 140, she received a wildcard for the Miami Open, where she defeated Jeļena Ostapenko, Madison Keys, and Iga Świątek before losing to Jessica Pegula in the semifinals. Following these results, Eala became the first Filipino to reach a WTA 1000 event semifinal, the first Filipino woman to defeat a major champion at a tour-level event in the Open Era, and the first wildcard in history to defeat three major champions in straight sets at a single WTA event. On March 31, she entered the WTA top 100 at No. 75.
She competed at the Madrid Open, losing in the second round to Świątek, and at the Italian Open, where she was defeated in the first round by Marta Kostyuk. In doubles, she reached the Italian Open quarterfinals with Coco Gauff. She lost in the first roud of Birmingham Open and Nottingham Open. At the Ilkley Open, she reached the quarterfinals. She then reached her first WTA 250 final at the Eastbourne Open, losing to Maya Joint. Eala's debut at Wimbledon resulted in two first-round losses: in singles to Barbora Krejčíková, and in doubles with Eva Lys to Ingrid Martins and Quinn Gleason. She lost in the first round of Canadian Open in Montreal, to Markéta Vondroušová. She later withdrew from the Cincinnati Open and the Monterrey Open due to a shoulder injury.