Aside from two mistimed overheads and an ambitious ‘tweener’ shot which did not have enough power to trouble her opponent, Sabalenka barely put a foot wrong as she surged to victory in just one hour and 13 minutes.
“Super happy that I was able to give myself another chance, another final, another opportunity to hold a trophy,” Sabalenka said.
“She’s an incredible player so I knew I would have to work for every point.”
Sabalenka has reached her fourth final in 2025, winning in Brisbane in January before defeats by American Madison Keys at the Australian Open then by Andreeva at Indian Wells two weeks ago.
Filipino Eala, ranked 140th in the world, had only two WTA main draw victories before arriving in Miami, yet she beat three Grand Slam winners in Jelena Ostapenko, Keys and world number two Iga Swiatek on her way to the last four.
The lowest-ranked semi-finalist in Miami Open history pushed Pegula to the brink in a contest lasting two hours and 24 minutes, breaking three times to win the second set.
“To have a week like this, the stars need to align and they did this week, and hopefully I can keep that up – that is my goal now, to keep this up,” she said.
Eala, a graduate of the Rafael Nadal Academy, will break into the world’s top 100 for the first time next week.
