ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider Alex Eala falls short to Aussie rival in first WTA Tour final

Alex Eala falls short to Aussie rival in first WTA Tour final

Published Jun 28, 2025 10:28 pm

At A Glance

  • Alex Eala fell short of claiming her first Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Tour crown after succumbing to Australia's Maya Joint, 4-6, 6-1, 6-7 (10), in the Lexus Eastbourne Open in Great Britain on Saturday, June 28.
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, 2025. (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, 2025. (Adam Davy/PA via AP)
Alex Eala fell short of claiming her first Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Tour crown after succumbing to Australia’s Maya Joint, 4-6, 6-1, 6-7 (10), in the Lexus Eastbourne Open in Great Britain on Saturday, June 28.
In a battle of two rising stars, the 20-year-old Eala blew four championship points in the thrilling match that lasted 2 hours and 26 minutes.
Joint eventually clinched her second WTA crown and became the youngest winner of the meet since 1981 at 19 years old.
Eala, for her part, still achieved a historic feat by becoming the first Filipina to reach a WTA Tour final.
You guys made it super special [and] it's my first WTA final. It's a big deal for me and for my country too because it's the first time any Filipina has done anything [like this before],” an emotional Eala said moments after the match.
I guess that's also why I'm so emotional, it's only the first, [but] I'll definitely work hard to do more [and] Wimbledon is next week so hopefully I'll forget about this much sooner, she added.
Despite her loss, the Asian Games double bronze medalist showed promise on the grass court as she gears up for her second Grand Slam main draw appearance in Wimbledon next week.
Prior to her title defeat, Eala went through two qualifying matches to make it to the main draw before beating heavily favored opponents in 2021 winner and Grand Slam champion Jelena Ostapenko, 0-6, 6-2, 3-2 (retired), in the round of 16, Russian Dayana Yastremska in the quarters, 6-1, 6-2, and Frenchwoman Varvara Gracheva in the semis, 7-5, 2-6, 6-3.
Eala bucked a slow start against Joint, crawling from a 4-1 deficit by keeping close to 5-4 before succumbing in the first set.
But she turned things around and dominated the second frame with ease to forge a deciding third set.
She held her ground from there, even taking a 5-4 lead, but lost her steam when it mattered most.

Related Tags

Alex Eala Eastbourne Open WTA Maya Joint
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.