Alex Eala Wins 1st WTA Tour Title

MANILA – Filipino tennis sensation Alex Eala finally won her first WTA Tour title by completing a reverse sweep against world No. 3 Jessica Pegula, 4-6, 6-4, 6-0, in the Mubadala DC Open final early Tuesday (PH time) at William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center in Washington, D.C.

In the championship match that needed two days to finish as stormy weather in the American capital forced the postponement, Eala finished the job in dominating fashion to finally call herself a bona fide WTA Tour champ.

Down 4-6 in the first set, Eala held a 2-1 lead in the second before the rain delay.

When play resumed, Eala and Pegula held serves until the former scored a crucial break point to force a decider.

The final set was virtually all-Eala as she broke Pegula’s serve in games 2 and 4 to eventually go 5-0.

Eala even had a chance to sweep the sixth game when she went 40-0, but Pegula finally scored a point to save a break point.

However, the American swung the ball too wide to her left in the next play, eventually giving Eala the deciding set bagel and the championship.

Eala became the first Southeast Asian player to win a WTA 500 tournament, even as she also captured her third pro title overall, counting the two WTA 125 chips she already got.

“I think I warmed up a thousand times. It was difficult, I think ... at the same time, it’s happened to me a lot; rain delays a lot of times in my life. I think this is just kind of another one of those, although it was a lot higher stakes. But I think I was able to take my time and take those learnings from the first half of the match and do my best to apply them in the second, and I think it worked pretty well,” the 21-year-old Eala said in a news release on the WTA website.

The left-hander eliminated 2024 Paris Olympics champion Zheng Qinwen of China (4-6, 6-4, 6-1), No. 7 seed and defending champion Leylah Fernandez of Canadao (6-2, 7-6 (7), No. 3 seed Naomi Osaka of Japan (6-4, 6-2), and No. 2 seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine (6-3, 6-4) on her way to the final.

“At the beginning of the week, there is no way I would have thought that I would be holding this trophy ... These things kind of creep up on you, and I hold these moments really close to me,” said Eala, who is expected to break into the Top 20 for the first time.

From No. 28 in the world rankings, Eala climbed to 20. She also earned a first-round bye in the WTA 1000 Canadian Open in Ontario slated to start Aug. 6 (PH time). (PNA)