US Open 2025: Indonesia's Janice Tjen, Philippines' Alexandra Eala create history for tiny Asian nations

A historic Sunday start for the US Open, first time in the tournament's history, also was a moment to savour for two players from tiny Asian nations of Indonesia and Philippines.First, Qualifier Janice Tjen, ranked World No. 149, defeated 24th seed Veronika Kudermetova in a thriller that lasted 2 hours and 11 minutes, with Tjen winning 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, marking the first victory by an Indonesian player at a major tournament in over two decades.The breakthrough performance puts Tjen in the record books as she follows in the footsteps of Angelique Widjaja, who was the last Indonesian player to win a match at a major tournament. Widjaja achieved her victory at the 2004 US OpenTjen had already created a milestone for herself and her country by progressing to the main draw.“It means a lot,” she said. “I feel proud to be able to do this for my country. Hopefully like this, by me making appearance here, will help, will inspire more tennis player, like, younger kids to play tennis and also, like, believing that, like, they can be here too.”
“I think I am pretty happy with how I played today, being able to execute everything that me and my coaches have planned. Pretty satisfied with it.”Ironically, Tjen, who considers 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu as her inspiration, will meet the Briton in the next round.“It’s going to be — well, my first thought is just, like, it’s going to be a big crowd, I would say, a bigger crowd playing against her,” Tjen said. “She’s a very well-known player and I’m just excited for the opportunity.”

Later in the day, Alexandra Eala came from 1-5 down in the third set and converted her fifth match point opportunity to beat World No. 14 Clara Tauson. In the process, she became the first Filipino to win a singles Grand Slam match in the Open Era.Eala is not new to being in the headlines. She had gone on a rampaging run at the Miami Open in March where she beat multiple former major champions - Jelena Ostapenko, Madison Keys and Iga Swiatek - before falling to Jessica Pegula.The 20-year-old was making her first US Open appearance since turning pro. Though she's not new to the energy of New York having been crowned the junior singles champion in 2022.“It was so, so difficult,” Eala said in her post-match interview. “[Clara is] a huge player, she’s a great player. Definitely not an easy draw for a first round, but I’m so happy that I was able to dig deep. I was just thinking to push the limit physically, mentally… this was it.”Eala will play the winner of the first round match between Cristina Bucsa and Claire Liu.