MANILA – Filipina tennis prodigy Alexandra “Alex” Eala clinched the Rafael Nadal Academy World Tennis Tour championship on the night of Jan. 24 in Manacor, Spain. Eala recovered from a set down to score a 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 win against hometown bet Yvonne Cavalle-Reimers.
The championship was a huge feat for the 15-year-old Eala as she became the first-ever tennis player from the Philippines to win an International Tennis Federation (ITF) professional singles title in the history of the sport.
Cavalle-Reimers was the more experienced player as she nailed her name in 132nd spot in the ITF and 490th spot in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) world rankings. Eala, on the other hand, is the number three junior player in the ITF and is currently ranked 1,180th in the world.
Eala started strong as she broke her rival’s service in the opening set, but her Spanish contender returned the favor to tie the game at 1-all. Neither player had the opportunity to hold serve in the next eight frames.
A scholar of the Rafael Nadal Academy, Eala was up to 5-4 and only needed to hold her serve to win the opening set. Cavalle-Reimers rallied to win the next three games taking the first frame, in a 7-5 score.
In the second set, she jumped to an early 3-0 lead after holding her serve for the first time in the match and breaking Cavalle-Reimers’ serve twice.
Cavalle-Reimers, who is 13 years older than her opponent, took the 4th frame by breaking the Eala streak but failed. The Filipino came back in the next three frames to take the set, 6-1 and extended the match to a decider.
In the third set, both players garnered a 1-all score in the first two frames. Eala held her serve twice breaking Cavalle-Reimers’ serve for the 11th time to lead at 4-1.
Cavalle-Reimers, however, refused to give up cutting Eala’s lead to 4-2. It proved to be the Spanish last stand as Eala took the next two frames to win the set, 6-2, and the match.
Eala reached the championship round following a 6-3, 6-4 straight-set victory over Adithya Karunaratne of Hong Kong during their semifinals match on Saturday evening./PN
