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Miko Eala (file photo)
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By Kristoffer Ed Bellen
MANILA--Just as much as her younger sister keeps racking up titles, Miko Eala notches a share of his own.
Eala, the elder brother of highly-touted rising star Alex, captured the boys' singles title at the J3 Nicosia Hellenic Bank Masters Tennis Academy ITF Juniors event after defeating Ilya Snitari of Moldova, 6-4 5-7 6-2, at Nicosia, Cyprus, Saturday.
Miko Eala, who also trains at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Mallorca, Spain, entered the tournament unseeded and was drawn inside the upper half of the draw alongside British top-seed Harry Wendelken.
The 17-year-old Filipino survived three straight hard-fought matches en route to the semifinals before dismantling Mark Ktiri of Spain in dominant fashion, 6-1, 6-1, to set up the title match against Snitari, who is ranked 238th in the world.
With the win, Eala, who is sitting well inside the Top 350--currently at 349th--has now quietly won his second ITF title this year after also winning the doubles event of the Grade 4 event in Lanarca, Cyprus with Australian Matthew Bosancic last June.
Eala will next play at the Grade 2 event in Haifa, Israel as the second seed of the qualifying round.
Follow him on Twitter: @KristoffBellen
