Filipino tennis star Alex Eala has just won her first grass-court title in Birmingham, England and she is not stopping there. Now aged 21, she is in London for the HSBC Championships at Queen’s Club, one of the world’s oldest tennis championships.
Eala claimed the Birmingham championship as top seed after a battling three-set final against Czech player Nikola Bartunkova, 5-7, 6-3, 7-5. The contest lasted 2 hours, 37 minutes. She even had to preserve two match points before finally coming through. It was also her first victory over a Czech player after 13 consecutive defeats. The win was her second career title after her victory in Guadalajara in September.
“I had a little luck and a lot of determination to get through that match,” Eala remarked after the match. She celebrated with a late-night sandwich before her flight to London.
Eala opens at Queen’s Club against China’s two-time Grand Slam doubles champion Shuai Zhang. Her first match is scheduled around 5 p.m. Manila time. Eala entered at the eleventh hour when two Americans withdrew through injury.
There is going to be some serious competition. Other notable players in the field include world number two Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan; number five Amanda Anisimova of the United States; and number nine Victoria Mboko of Canada.
The challenge has not been enough to dampen Eala’s spirits. Strong results in Birmingham and at the French Open saw her reach a career-high world ranking of 33 in the globe. Birmingham alone brought her more than two million pesos in prize money.
Eala said she considers home not the place but the people around her and she is counting on support from Filipino admirers in London.
Eala has more important events scheduled after Queen’s Club. She will pair up with tennis icon Venus Williams in a doubles competition in Bad Homburg from June 21-27. The grass season culminates with the greatest event, Wimbledon, which takes place between June 29 and July 12.
Eala has shown she can win on grass already. Now she wants to prove she can do it again.
