Alexandra Eala has the loudest fans at the US Open, and she's welcoming the noise: 'It doesn't get old'

Alexandra Eala celebrates after defeating USA's Mary Stoiana in the first round of the US Open on Tuesday in New York. (Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP via Getty Images)CHARLY TRIBALLEAU via Getty Images

NEW YORK — During the fourth game of Alexandra Eala's first-round match at the US Open, a long point unfolded that drew gasps and cheers with increasing frequency. By the time Eala sent a passing shot by American Mary Stoiana to finish it off, it had built to a full roar.

Chair umpire Marijana Veljovic was not amused.

"Please," she warned the crowd. "Out of respect for both players, keep your voices down."

As Eala has risen up the rankings this season to the point where she's a fringe contender for the US Open title, fan etiquette has become a topic around her matches. As the first significant tennis player from the Philippines, she has drawn remarkable crowds from one tournament to the next, filled largely with people who are new to the sport and not steeped in the customs of when to cheer and when to be quiet.

It has created some insane atmospheres at otherwise sleepy tennis tournaments. It has also rankled some opponents, or at least made them uncomfortable. After losing to Eala in a final earlier this summer in Washington, D.C., in front of a heavily partisan crowd, American Jessica Pegula acknowledged it was like playing a road game.

"Even though it didn't go my way, it was still a really great atmosphere," she said. "I'd rather play in an atmosphere like that than nobody [in the stands]."

Fans cheer for Alexandra Eala while holding flags for the Philippines during first-round US Open match Tuesday in New York. AP Photo/Adam Hunger

Aside from that one moment early in Tuesday's match, the Eala effect was relatively muted Tuesday during her 6-1, 6-2 victory. Some of that might have been due to the the relative ease of the match for Eala, taking the lead early and wrapping it up without much drama. It was actually a bit louder earlier in the night when Gael Monfils, the French showman playing his last US Open before retirement, lit the crowd on fire with a bevy of acrobatic shots in his win over Adolfo Daniel Vallejo.

He was a tough act to follow.

But as Eala, the No. 17 seed, goes deeper in the tournament and plays more competitive matches, the crowd could be a factor.

"I think now I've experienced it a lot recently and I think in terms of being professional and compartmentalizing I've gotten a better rhythm at it," Eala said. "But it doesn't get old. They [the Filipino fans] still surprise me."

As detailed in a Yahoo Sports story last week, Eala is the biggest athlete to come out of the Philippines since Manny Pacquiao. A country of 114 million people with a huge diaspora around the globe — including roughly a quarter million Filipinos living in the New York area — the country's passion for sports has not been represented very often on the world stage.

It has translated to massive viewership for her matches and press conferences, huge sponsorship deals and sold-out tournaments in places like Toronto, which brought in a Filipino food stand this year.

When the US Open announced Eala would play her first round in the night session on Louis Armstrong Court, ticket prices on the secondary market immediately spiked to around $400 each. And her fans were certainly representing Tuesday, waving Filipino flags after every point she won.

"I've had experience with big crowds in the past year and I've been navigating it well to keep my focus and focus on what I need to pay attention to," she said. "And in the end when you get into the groove, we play tennis and a match is a match where there are a lot of people or none. Once the players get into that groove, the effect of external factors is less."

Eala didn't really need much fan support to take care of business against Stoiana. But if she advances deeper — toward, say, a potential fourth-round matchup against Coco Gauff — it will be interesting to see how much of a factor her crowd becomes playing an American star at the US Open.

"This was my first time playing on one of the main stadiums here and it was very loud and especially when the roof is covered," Eala said. "It adds to the atmosphere, but it's something you have to navigate and of course coming in as a seeded player and having done pretty good during this American swing, it brings a different vibe. A little more confidence, a little more expectations but I think I've been handling it well."