BY KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Philippines’ top junior player Alex Eala is expected to boost her International Tennis Federation (ITF) world junior rankings this week following a historic victory at the 2020 Australian Open Junior Championships in Melbourne on Friday.
The 14-year-old Eala and Indonesian Priska Madelyn Nugroho swept Slovenia’s Ziva Falkner and Great Britain’s Matilda Mutavdzic, 6-1, 6-2, to capture their first girls doubles Grand Slam title in only their second tournament as a pair.
The victory is expected to propel Eala’s No. 9 rankings prior to the Grand Slam as well as Nugroho’s, who is at No. 27.
“It’s been an amazing week and a great tournament, and I’m happy to be here,” said Eala during the awarding ceremony.
Eala became the second Filipino to win a Grand Slam title after Francis Casey Alcantara’s 2009 Australian Open boys doubles victory with Taiwanese Hsieh Cheng-peng.
It was only Eala’s second Grand Slam appearance, having reached the second round of the US Open last year.
A scholar of the Rafa Nadal Academy, Eala is slated to join more tournaments particularly in the remaining Grand Slams events.
She leapfrogged from No. 248 at the end of the 2018 season to a high of No. 13 last October.
She ended the season last December with a doubles victory in the prestigious Orange Bowl International Tennis Championships in Florida with Belarusian partner Evialina Laskevich.