The Filipinos will wake up Monday with another sporting hero.
A little over five months since golf sensation Yuka Saso claimed her first title in the rich Japan Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA), tennis wonder Alex Eala scored her breakthrough title win in the pro ranks Sunday in Manacor, Spain.
Displaying the form why she’s being trumpeted as the newest face of PH sports, the 15-year-old Eala conquered Spaniard Yvonne Cavalle-Reimers, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2, and completed her amazing run in the $15,000 tournament.
Unlike in her previous four wins, it took Eala more than two hours to wrap up the match, but it was worth the wait.
After dropping the tightly-contested first set, Eala fought like a wounded tigress, her confidence growing each game to completely annihilate her 28-year-old opponent.
At times, Eala’s rival stumbled chasing her pin-point shots that were joy to watch.
Her solid baseline game more than made up for her erratic serves as she yielded only two sets throughout the event including her marathon 6-7(4), 7-6(4), 6-4 quarterfinal win over fifth seed Carole Monnet of France the other day.
Her earlier wins came at the expense of Italy’s Anna Paradisi in the first round, 6-1, 6-2; top seed Seone Mendez of Australia in the second round, 6-4, 6-1; and Hong Kong’s Adithya Karunaratne in the semifinal, 6-3, 6-4.
With the win, Eala is expected to improve her ITF rankings of 1651.
She advanced to the final with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Hong Kong’s Adithya Karunaratne.
Saso went on to finish the JLPGA with two titles aside from figuring prominently in other events to emerge No. 1 in the money list order after earning more than P38 million. (Kristel Satumbaga)
