History made as Eala advances to Eastbourne Open final

Sports

ALEX Eala never ceases to amaze.

The 20-year-old Eala made history when she advanced to the final round of the WTA 250 Lexus Eastbourne Open by outlasting Varvara Gracheva of France in their semifinal duel on Friday night, June 27.

The victory made Eala the first Filipino tennis player to make it to the championship round of a WTA Tour-level tournament.

Eala also made history last March when she became the first Filipino to make it to the semifinals of the Miami Open.

It has been an amazing run for Eala in the Eastbourne Open, coming all the way from the qualifying round to advance to the championship round.

Ranked No. 74 in the world, Eala broke free from a tight contest in the deciding set against Gracheva. It was 3-all when Eala won the next three games to ice the win.

It will be a battle of youngsters in the final round as Eala will go up against the 19-year-old Australian Maya Joint.

Ranked No. 51 in the world, Joint booked her own final ticket by beating Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 7-5, 6-3, in their semis duel.

Eala and Joint are playing against each other for the first time.

The right-handed Joint has already won one singles title, something that the left-handed Eala is trying to finally achieve.(CCM)