Indonesian trailblazer Janice Tjen stuns Alexandra Eala in Sao Paulo QF

Janice Tjen continued a spectacular breakthrough onto the Hologic WTA Tour at the SP Open in Sao Paulo, stunning Alexandra Eala, 6-4, 6-1 to reach the semifinals.

“It still feels unbelievable to me,” Tjen said on court after the match. “It hasn’t hit yet. All I can say is I’m pretty happy with how I played today.”

Tjen was already the first woman from Indonesia to make a WTA quarterfinal since Angelique Widjaja in 2004 (Bali), and the 23-year-old went one round deeper over the streaking No. 3 seed in one hour and 12 minutes on Quadra Central.

Born in Jakarta, Tjen burst onto the scene less than a month ago at the 2025 US Open, winning three rounds of qualifying and shocking No. 24 seed Veronika Kudermetova in her Grand Slam main draw debut. Playing at the WTA 250 event in Sao Paulo, she knocked out No. 7 seed Leolia Jeanjena in straight sets and backed up the win with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Slovak qualifier Martina Okalova to book her spot in the last eight.

“I was focusing on every point, especially playing against Alex Eala,” Tjen said. “We all know that she can come back at any time, and I was just trying to focus and stay in it until the end.”

Waiting for her there was an in-form Eala, fresh off her first WTA 125K title run at the Guadalajara 125 Open earlier this month. The 20-year-old from the Philippines has been one of the biggest stories of the 2025 season, reaching the Miami Open semifinals with wins over Jelena Ostapenko, Madison Keys, and Iga Swiatek. She made her first WTA final three months later on grass in Eastbourne and dropped just two sets en route to the title in Guadalajara, rallying from a set down to defeat Pann Udvardy in the final.

She made quick work of her SP Open opposition to reach the quarterfinals and took a quick 2-0 lead on Tjen when their match began on Friday. But Tjen quickly caught fire from there, winning 12 of the final 15 games to surge into the semifinal in just over an hour.

Standing between Tjen and her first WTA final will be either No. 2 seed Solana Sierra or No. 6 seed Francesca Jones, who each won their second-round matches in straight sets.