Like the fascinating neon lights of New York, Alex Eala continues to captivate the hearts of Filipino community, but awed her rivals – even the fancied ones.
For the second time in three days, Eala stunned a higher seeded rival, this time claiming the scalp of ninth-seeded Canadian Victoria Mboko, 6-1, 7-6 (5), to advance to the final of the US Open Girls Tournament Saturday (Manila time) at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows.
It was the first ever appearance of a Filipino campaigner in the prestigious tournament – one of the four Grand Slam events in tennis.
Small wonder the 17-year-old Eala cried unabashedly after clinching the win before her Filipino fans in the city that holds a special place in her heart.
Like in her third round win over No. 8 seed Australian Taylah Preston, Eala faced difficulty in wrapping up the match after falling behind in the second set, 3-1 and 5-3.
But the proud winner of two girls doubles titles refused to be intimidated as she summoned her remaining strength to force a tiebreak and engaged her rival in another dogfight.
In the end, it was Eala who emerged victorious as the Canadian double-faulted in the critical moment of the match.
Eala’s valiant effort, thus assured the 10th seeded of her highest finish in the majors, bettering her semis showing in the 2020 French Open.
The first set proved to be easy for easy of Eala as she punished her rival with whistling winners – left and right.
Eala, who beat doubles partner and No. 14 seed Russian Mirra Andreeva in the quarterfinals, 6-4, 6-0, will face Czech No. 2 seed Lucie Havlickova in the final.
Havlickova made to the final with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Russian No. 7 seed Diana Shnaider.
Eala has been competing in professional tournaments since January, winning two titles – the 2022 W25 Chiang Rai and 2021 W15 Manacor.
