They Queued For Hours To Watch Her Lose #alexeala A country adopted her before the rankings did. Then Washington happened. In January 2026, Alexandra Eala arrived at the Australian Open ranked 49th in the world. Her pre-tournament press conference was watched by 171,000 people. The world number one's drew 9,000. Thousands of Filipino fans queued for hours at Melbourne Park to watch her play on a court that held 1,500. She lost in three sets. Seven months later, Alex Eala beat Jessica Pegula, Nao