Alex Eala clinches rare twin feat in Spain tourney

Alex Eala clinches rare twin feat in Spain tourney

BY KRISTEL SATUMBAGA-VILLAR
Manila Bulletin
Jul 22, 2024 

Alex Eala achieved a rare twin feat over the weekend, snaring the W100 Vitoria-Gasteiz International Tennis Federation (ITF) singles title a day after clinching the doubles crown at the Peña Vitoriana Tennis Club in Spain.

The fifth-seeded Eala overcame fellow left-handed rival and seventh pick Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva of Andorra, 6-4, 6-4, to rule the $100,000 tournament for her first singles title this year.

It was also Eala’s fifth crown overall -- and biggest title to date after having won W15 and W25 events since 2021.

The victory was a fitting follow up to her doubles victory with French partner Estelle Cascino, where they pulled off a pulsating 6-3, 2-6, 10-4 win over Bulgaria’s Lia Karatancheva and Latvia’s Diana Marcinkevica.

“This win means the world to me, it even made me ugly cry,” Eala wrote in a social media post moments after her singles triumph.

“I am so proud because this represents the culmination of so much hard work. Securing my biggest titles yet in both singles and doubles is a fairytale finish, and I’m overwhelmed with emotion,” she added.

In a battle of former Grand Slam Junior champions, Eala dictated the pace in the opening frame against Kasintseva by soaring to a 5-2 lead before the Andorrian won the next two games for 5-4.

But Eala was quick to recover, winning the 10th game and the set.

The 19-year-old Filipina tennis sensation kept the momentum in the second set with a 2-0 edge, but Kasintseva, a former world No. 1 junior player, secured the next three games to grab the 3-2 upperhand.

That did not detain Eala as she broke her rival’s serve to take a 4-3 lead and kept her poise in the next games to win the match.

“This will always have a special place in my heart, and I leave here with a pocket full of great memories and the will to work harder,” Eala said.

Eala did not drop a single set throughout the tournament as she prevailed over Dutch Lian Tran, 6-4, 6-2; Spaniard Lucia Cortez Llorca, 7-5, 7-5; Ukraine’ Yullia Starodubtseva, 7-6 (5), 6-4; and Mexico’s Maria Jose Portillo Ramirez, 6-2, 6-1.

In the doubles, Eala and Cascino dumped local duo Carolina and Jimena Gomez, 6-3, 6-2; Czech Republic’s Victoria Bervid and Italy’s Laura Mair, 6-4, 6-1; and Bolivia’s Noelia Zeballos Melgar and Mexico’s Maria Ramirez, 6-2, 6-3, before surviving Karatancheva and Marcinkevica.

With the twin wins, Eala is expected to improve her Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) singles ranking of No. 155 and doubles ranking of No. 245.