What will it take for world No. 140 to overpower the five-time Grand Slam champion?🖥️📱 Click here for live coverage on TennisChannel.com (United States only; start time at approximately 1:00 p.m. ET on March 26)The winner of this match will play either No. 4 seed Jessica Pegula or 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu in the semifinals.👉 Click here for the complete Miami Open bracket.It isn’t often we see someone ranked 140th in the world in the quarterfinals of a WTA 1000. But Eala is a pathbreaker in more ways than one.The 19-year-old is also, already, the highest-ranked player ever from the Philippines, and one of the only ones currently on tour. The lefty has spent most of her brief career on the ITF circuit, but a wild card got her in the door in Miami, and she has made the most of it, upsetting two of the WTA’s biggest hitters, Jelena Ostapenko and Madison Keys, back to back. Beating Ostapenko is something that Swiatek can’t claim to have done yet.A post shared by Tennis (@tennischannel)Can Eala make it three power-player victims in a row? She has some of the traits of her fellow lefty—and half-Filipino—Leylah Fernandez. Neither is tall, but they make up for it by playing close to the baseline and taking every ball they can on the rise. That’s not an easy way to win, especially against Swiatek, who is No. 2 in the world, a past champion in Miami, and who hits with a heavy, bouncy topspin that can be hard to time.Swiatek has played some tight sets in her three matches in Miami, but hasn’t lost any of them so far. She should be able to attack Eala’s serve, but she may have to deal with Eala doing the same to her second serve. I’ll just finish by saying that Swiatek and Fernandez have played twice, and Iga has lost a total of five games. Winner: Swiatek—Steve Tignor👉 Click here for more news on the Miami Open.Swiatek is a -2000 moneyline favorite; Eala is a +900 underdog.To win the second set, Swiatek is -900 and Eala is +450.(Odds from BetMGM as of 9:40 p.m. ET on Tuesday, March 25.)👉 Click here for more betting coverage on TENNIS.com.
