MANILA – Filipina tennis sensation Alex Eala took home the crown in the W25 Roehampton tournament after a 6-2, 6-3 stunner over Arina Rodionova of Australia in the finals on Sunday night at the National Tennis Centre in Great Britain.
It was the 18-year-old Eala’s second championship of the season and also her fourth career overall tiara on the International Tennis Federation Women’s World Tennis Tour event.
The No. 6 ranked Eala dominated the match right from the get-go. She surged to a 5-1 start in the first set. Rodionova managed to cut the deficit to 2-5 but an error from her allowed the Filipina to take a 1-0 set lead.
Eala had the same 5-1 start in the second set but two costly errors from the Filipina allowed Rodionova to cut the deficit to 3-5 before the former regained her form to clinch the championship.
On her way to the championship, Eala first scored a 6-3, 6-4 victory over qualifier Gabriella Da Silva Fick from Australian followed by a 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 conquest over another Australian in Destanee Aiava in the second round.
Eala then stunned the top seed Priscilla Hon, 6-2, 6-4, in the quarterfinal of the $25,000 tournament and then withstood the No.3 seed Arianne Hartono of the Netherlands with a 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-1 victory in the semifinals.
The Filipina tennis star, however, was not as fortunate in the double event as she and her partner Aiava bowed to Petra Hule and Talia Gibson of Australia, 6-1, 7-5, in the quarterfinals.
Prior to the W25 Roehampton championship, Eala ruled the 2023 W25 Yecla tournament in Spain last month as she won two major tennis championships in a year for the first time.
Earlier in her career, the Rafael Nadal Academy product’s first two professional tennis crowns came from two different years in the W15 Manacor in 2021 and W25 Chiang Rai last year.
Eala, currently Women’s Tennis Association No. 250 ranked women tennis player, also became the first Filipino to win a Grand Slam singles championship during her junior years./PN
