ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider Alex Eala makes history, marches into her first-ever WTA finals

Alex Eala makes history, marches into her first-ever WTA finals

Published Jun 27, 2025 08:33 pm

At A Glance

  • Alex Eala shrugged off a second-set stumble and notched a 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 win over French Varvara Gracheva to march into the finals of the WTA 250 Lexus Eastbourne Open in Great Britain Friday evening, June 27 (Manila time).
Alexandra Eala reacts winning a point to Varvara Gracheva during the women's singles semi-final match of the Eastbourne Tennis Open tournament, at Devonshire Park Lawn Tennis Club, Eastbourne, England, Friday June 27. (Adam Davy/PA via AP)
Alexandra Eala reacts winning a point to Varvara Gracheva during the women's singles semi-final match of the Eastbourne Tennis Open tournament, at Devonshire Park Lawn Tennis Club, Eastbourne, England, Friday June 27. (Adam Davy/PA via AP)
Alex Eala said mental toughness is the ultimate key in winning games. With history on the line, it was all heart and guts.
Eala brushed off a second-set stumble and notched a hard-earned 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 win over French Varvara Gracheva to march into the final of the WTA 250 Lexus Eastbourne Open in Great Britain Friday evening, June 27 (Philippine time).
The 20-year-old Eala became the first-ever player from the Philippines – in both the men's and women's division – to reach the championship round of a WTA Tour-level singles tournament.
Eala, world's No. 74, already made her mark in the WTA after reaching the semis twice – the other one in this year’s Miami Open where she bowed to eventual runner-up Jessica Pegula of the US.
The Filipina hitter will face No. 51 Australian Maya Joint, who beat No. 53 Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova via a 7-5, 6-3 semis win, in the final this Saturday, June 28.
Eala found her winning ways in the entertaining match against her French foe who was equally eager and talented.
The Filipina overcame a marathon first set before losing her rhythm in the second.
Fortunately, she came back to her senses in the third frame and sealed the deal against the No. 111 playerwith a magnificent play to the delight of the crowd.
“I'm sorry, no I'm super happy because like it was a tough match, so there were really tough moments where she was going well and sometimes [I] couldn't you… know how to get out of it,” said Eala. “I'm really happy [with the win].”
“It was a challenge for both of us physically and mentally you know we both came from qualifiers and… She's a really solid player and had some moments where she was really dominating so the fact that I was able to stay there and wait for my opportunity is a big achievement for me today,” she added.
It was a remarkable journey for Eala who came from the qualifying rounds where she outclassed American Hailey Baptiste (6-7 (7), 7-6 (7), 6-1) and Turkish Zeynep Sonmez (6-1, 6-3).
She then bested Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti (6-0, 6-1) and Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, the 2021 yournament champ, in the Last 32 and 16, respectively, before ousting Ukrainian Yastremska (6-1, 6-2) in the quarterfinal.

Related Tags

Alex Eala Maya Joint WTA Eastbourne Open
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.