Alex Eala is finally back in a final match of a singles event.
The Filipino tennis ace powered through the semifinal win over Mirra Andreeva of Russia, 7-5, 6-2. She has now earned a spot in the final of the 2021 TF World Tennis Tour Juniors’ JA tournament at the Tennis Club Milano Alberto Bonacossa, Milan, Italy, Saturday.
The 16-year-old had to punctuate the match with back-to-back points to ultimately break the Russian’s service for the last time in the match. She closed the second set with a dominant showing.
The two teenage stars struggled with their service games throughout the match. Still, Eala summoned her experience to get through her own. She took five of her six service games and allowed Andreeva just one break of serve.
The world number three girls player pulled through in that tight first set after getting a scare from Andreeva on that last game. Eala then took the last two points and took the set advantage.
Eala and her American partner Madison Sieg will test their mettle against Croatia’s Lucija Ciric Bagaric and Belgium’s Sofia Costoulas for the doubles plum later in the day.
The Filipino will look to get her second singles title of the year since her win in the W25 Manacor event last January.
Eala will face the winner of the semifinal between Czech Republic’s Nikola Bartunkova and USA’s Clervie Ngounoue.