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| Alex Eala finally got her first WTA Tour title. Getty Images (file photo) |
MANILA—Last year, Alex Eala suffered heartbreak in the tiebreak of the Eastbourne Open final as she let Maya Joint crawl back to deny her a breakthrough WTA Tour title.
This time, there is no stopping Eala from clinching the much-coveted WTA Tour title as she made sure Set 3 would last just six games.
The Filipina tennis sensation finally won her first WTA Tour championship by completing a reverse sweep in style against world number three Jessica Pegula, 4-6, 6-4, 6-0, in the Mubadala DC Open final early Tuesday (Philippine Time) at the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center in Washington, DC.
The final needed two days to finish as stormy weather in the American capital forced the postponement of the match with Eala holding a 2-1 lead in Set 2.
When play finally resumed, both Eala and Pegula held serves until the former scored a crucial break point to force Set 3.
The final set was virtually all-Eala as she broke Pegula's serve in Games 2 and 4 to eventually go 5-0 up.
Eala even had a chance to sweep Game 6 when she was 40-0 up until Pegula finally scored a point to save a break point.
However, Pegula still lost steam as she swung the ball too wide to her left in the next play, eventually giving Eala the deciding set bagel and the championship.
Eala became the first Southeast Asian player to win a WTA 500 tournament, even as she also captured her third pro title overall, counting the two WTA 125 chips she already got.
Eala will now fly north of the border to compete in the National Bank Open in Toronto, which is now underway.
By virtue of being currently at number 29 in the WTA world rankings, Eala earned a first-round bye in the WTA 1000 tournament.
