CAPPING an already historic 2025 campaign, Filipina tennis phenom Alex Eala once again bannered the country’s pride after clinching the elusive gold medal in the women’s tennis singles event in the 33rd Southeast Asian Games on Thursday at the National Tennis Development Center in Nonthaburi, Thailand.
The 20-year-old national team standout dominated the home bet Mananchaya Sawangkaew, in a championship-nailing 6-1, 6-2 win that also ended the Philippines’ 26-year-old gold medal drought in the women’s tennis singles event.
In front of hundreds of Filipino fans, Eala showcased an astounding display of court mastery to demolish her Thailand foe and net the country’s first women’s singles gold since Maricris Fernandez in 1999.
Eala imposed her skill set right off the bat as she built an early 3-0 lead. After dropping the fourth set, Eala finished the opening set with a blistering three-game run to draw the first blood.
It was a neck-to-neck battle in the second set, with Eala and Mananchaya being even through the first four games. Then, the Rafa Nadal Academy graduate turned things up in the latter half, winning the next four games to finally bag the title.
In her second biennial meet stint, the current WTA world no. 53 finished with a gold and a pair of bronze from the mixed doubles and team event. On Wednesday, Eala and Niño Alcantara fell short against Patcharin Cheapchandej and Pawit Sornlaksup of Thailand in the mixed doubles semifinals, in a tight 7-5, 5-7, 7-10 score, settling for a third-place finish.
She also won a bronze medal from the women’s team event, together with Shaira Rivera, Alexa Milliam, Tennielle Madis, and Stefi Aludo. Tracing back to her first regional meet campaign in 2021, Eala settled for bronze in the women’s singles event.
Her gold medal finish in Thailand is the perfect ending for her historic and well-decorated year that saw her etch her name in the history books of Philippine sports. From her becoming the first Filipina to reach a WTA 1000 semifinal event in the Miami Open, up to her main draw brilliance in the French, Wimbledon, and US Open, where Eala became the first Filipino to win a Grand Slam main-draw match.
After her strong showing in the Grand Slam events, Eala put the world on notice and made it clear that she wasn’t the promising junior anymore but the poised competitor that is ready to win it all after reigning supreme in the Guadalajara 125 Open.