With some punishing down-the-line forehands and a braces-accented smile that travelled from New York City to Southeast Asia, Alexandra Eala made some enormous sports history for her country Saturday afternoon.

Never before had a player from the Philippines won a Junior Grand Slam singles title. But that drought was emphatically ended on Court 11 at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

The 17-year-old Eala was the steadier, more powerful player in her match with 2022 Roland Garros girls' champ Lucie Havlickova of Czech Republic, dominating the first set and then winning the key points in the second to secure a 6-2 6-4 win.

With father Michael mouthing “Oh my God, Oh my God!” in the stands, and literally hundreds of Filipino fans surrounding the court and cheering, Eala won her sixth singles match of the week and grabbed the title without dropping a set.

“It's very overwhelming right now,” Eala said, when asked what this win means to her country. “But I think this is a huge step for me personally, as well. I'm super happy to represent my country and do something with a big platform, being able to inspire other younger people.”

Eala’s victory is bound to have a positive impact on tennis back home; the Philippines has had some professional players before but no female with the start that Eala has had. She’s already inside the Top 300 in the WTA rankings, playing mostly pro tournaments this year, and her pride in her homeland has been evident all week. While she trains at the Rafael Nadal Academy in Spain now, under coach Adrien Alexis Vaseux, she has talked all tournament about what a victory would mean for her homeland.

“She could be the Manny Pacquiao of tennis,” said Cecil Mamiit, a former pro player from Philippines who now coaches on the WTA Tour. “There’s been a lot of hype around her in the tennis community at home, and she is definitely worth it.”

Michael Eala, who along with wife, Reza, was crying right along with their daughter after the victory, struggled to find the words after the win.

“It’s … unbelievable,” he said while receiving hugs from all around him. “We know it’s a long journey, but today we celebrate! This is unreal, just unreal.”

Among the hundreds of New York-area Filipinos cheering Eala on was John Gadia, wearing a white Philippines soccer jersey.

“I came out just to show some support, she’s so great,” Gadia said. “Tennis could be bigger back home, but the government has other priorities. Maybe this will help it get bigger.”

Both players in the final had looked dominant in getting to Saturday, and Havlickova looked to have the experience advantage, since she won the 2022 Roland Garros singles title this spring.

But Havlickova appeared wearier Saturday and for very good reason; twice this week she had to play three matches in one day, thanks to a washout of all play on Tuesday. On Friday, Havlickova not only won her singles semi but she and partner Diana Shnaider won two doubles matches.

Eala only had to play her singles semi-final on Friday.

“I think both of us were quite tired,” Eala said. “It's normal with a finals match. We're not going to be super fresh. I think she did hold out really well, especially in the second set.”

“I played two times three matches a day, which isn't usual. It's not easy,” Havlickova said. “This was one of the differences today in the match. But I cannot say it as excuse … Alexandra played amazing, played really good, and congratulations to her.”

Eala, currently the world No. 297 in the WTA women’s singles rankings, jumped on top early in the final, breaking Havlickova in the fifth game when the Czech double-faulted on break point.

The left-handed Eala then broke again at 4-2, as her forehands down the line repeatedly found their mark. She was rarely bothered on her own serve in the final, facing only two break points and getting broken once.

In the second set, Havlickova found her form, and her errant backhands soon were clipping the lines. But at 4-all Eala applied some more baseline pressure, as a scalding forehand down the line gave her two break points.

With the crowd making as much noise as it had all match, Eala forced a Havlickova backhand into the net for the break of serve she needed.

On match point Eala drilled a serve that Havlickova returned, but moments later a Havlickova backhand smacked into the net, and the celebration was on.

Eala had 11 winners and 21 unforced errors in the final, while Havlickova smacked 17 winners with 39 errors.

After the match on the court, Eala broke down in tears while speaking Tagalog.

“I said that I fought with my heart for this trophy,” Eala said. “I said that it's not just my win, it's all of our wins. I said that, yeah, I did this not just for myself, I did it so I could help Philippine tennis.”

In the girls' doubles final Saturday, Havlickova and partner Diana Shnaider won the title after beating Germany’s Carolina Kuhl and Ella Seidel, 6-3 6-2 to win their first Slam as partners. It’s the second Slam doubles title this year for Havlickova, as she and Sara Bejlek topped the podium at Roland Garros.

For Havlickova, recovering mentally from the singles defeat was aided by the boys' final going the distance.

“Even though I lost the singles, I wanted even more to win the doubles because you never want to be two times second,” she said, smiling. “So, yeah, I just re-focused and it ended well.”

“It's a little bit hard here, because every time I didn't have any good results here,” Shnaider said. “But then Lucie write me. I was, like, for sure I want to play with her because she's a good player. I was thinking we have good chances. We just need to find our game, find our connection.”