Alexandra Eala is a Filipino Phenom

Eala lifts up her trophy winning the Washington Open

Asian tennis players are on fire these days. Although Hong Kong's Coleman Wong Chak-lam flamed out in the semi-finals of the Mifel Open a few days ago at an ATP event in Los Cabos, Mexico, Alexandra Eala is hot property now that she is the first Filipino to win a WTA singles title.

The 21-year-old defeated top-seeded Jessica Pegula 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 today to win the Washington Open in the United States capital.

Eala now ranked No. 20 in the world

"Oh my gosh, winning a [WTA] 500 is insane. It's an incredible milestone for me," she said.

"At the beginning of the week, there is no way I would have thought that I would be holding this trophy. Even at the beginning of the year," Eala said. "These things kind of creep up on you and I hold these moments really close to me."

Now ranked No. 20 in the world, Eala was overcome with joy when she won the game. Like Wong, she also trained at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Spain, so the Spanish champion's tennis school is definitely honing players' talents to win.

Eala turned heads earlier this summer at Wimbledon when she defeated defending champion and world No. 6 seed Iga Swiatek in the third round. 

Eala learned tennis at four

Not bad for Eala, who comes from a sporty family: her mother Rosemarie Maniego-Eala was a former national swimmer, and her paternal uncle is a former Philippine Sports Commission chairperson and Philippine Basketball Association commissioner, Noila Eala.

At Wimbledon, Eala talked about learning tennis at the age of four from her maternal grandfather Roberto Maniego.

"I went to train with my brother and my grandfather everyday after school with my ruffled socks and my light up shoes and my chubby cheeks," she recalled.

With today's historic win, Eala is definitely one to watch!