Alex Eala\u2019s brilliant run to the Washington Open title has put her firmly in the category of \u2018dark horse\u2019 ahead of the US Open.<\/p>\n
Eala defeated Jessica Pegula in three sets to claim the Washington title, which came after the star also picked up wins against Elina Svitolina and Naomi Osaka.<\/p>\n
The Filipina star will play the Canadian Open and the Cincinnati Open ahead of the US Open, but many of her adoring fans are excited about how she might fare at the Flushing Meadows event this year.<\/p>\n
At last year\u2019s tournament, Eala claimed the first Grand Slam main draw victory of her career in New York by defeating Clara Tauson. She was then defeated by Cristina Bucsa in the second round.<\/p>\n
So how have previous Washington Open winners fared at the US Open just a month later?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a mixed bag for the Washington Open champions at the US Open<\/a>, although no player in the last five years has suffered an exit in the first two rounds.<\/p>\n Last year\u2019s Washington champion,\u00a0Leylah Fernandez<\/a>, only managed a third round appearance at the US Open a month later.<\/p>\n Fernandez defeated compatriot Rebecca Marino and Elsa Jacquemot before losing to world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka<\/a> in straight sets at the Grand Slam.<\/p>\n In 2023, Paula Badosa<\/a> was crowned the champion of the Washington Open. She would go on to have a very impressive run at the US Open, reaching the last eight of the Grand Slam.<\/p>\n Rafael Nadal sends message to Alex Eala after Washington Open victory<\/a><\/p>\n Top ATP coach reveals the first thing players should do against Washington champion Alex Eala<\/a><\/p>\n Badosa beat the likes of Taylor Townsend<\/a> and Elena-Gabriela Ruse en route to the quarter finals, before she was defeated by Emma Navarro<\/a> in straight sets.<\/p>\n Eala will be hoping to emulate Coco Gauff<\/a>, who is the only player in the last five years to win the Washington Open and the US Open back-to-back.<\/p>\n Gauff beat Maria Sakkari<\/a> in the Washington Open final to claim the title and she followed it up by having a brilliant campaign at Flushing Meadows.<\/p>\n The American beat Jelena Ostapenko<\/a>, Karolina Muchova<\/a>, and Sabalenka consecutively to claim the US Open on home soil for the first and only time in her career.<\/p>\n In 2022, Liudmila Samsonova was the winner of the Washington Open and she followed it up with her best-ever run at the US Open.<\/p>\n The Russian star defeated Sara Bejlek, Fernandez, and Aleksandra Kruni\u0107, before succumbing to Ajla Tomljanovi\u0107 in straight sets in the fourth round.<\/p>\n Pegula was crowned the Washington Open champion in 2021, which was the first WTA singles title of her career. She reached the third round of the US Open a month later, defeating Anastasia Potapova and Misaki Doi, before losing to Belinda Bencic.<\/p>\n If Eala emulates the last five winners of the Washington Open, she will earn her best-ever performance at the US Open.<\/p>\n The post How the last five Washington Open champions performed at the US Open as Alex Eala eyes more history<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Alex Eala\u2019s brilliant run to the Washington Open title has put her firmly in the category of \u2018dark horse\u2019 ahead of the US Open. Eala defeated Jessica Pegula in three sets to claim the Washington title, which came after the star also picked up wins against Elina Svitolina and Naomi Osaka. The Filipina star will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2586\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}More Alex Eala news<\/h2>\n