Alex Eala pocketed the girls’ singles title of the JA Milan tournament of the 2021 ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors, winning over Czech Republic’s Nikola Bartunkova, 6-3, 6-3, at the Tennis Club Milano Alberto Bonacossa, Milan, Italy, Sunday.
The result is the world no. 3 girls player’s first-ever tournament double. Her victory came less than 20 hours after she and partner American Madison Sieg bagged the doubles title.
Eala shook off the younger opponent’s final break of serve. Then with her own service break, she ended the one-hour-and-48-minute match.
The 16-year-old Filipino standout carried her momentum from the opening-set win. She earlier stormed out of the gates with the 3-0 lead in the second — a lead she eventually used to take the set, the match, and the title.
Bartunkova threatened to cut the deficit to two on her third service game of the match. Still, it was Eala who eventually pocketed the said game for a 5-1 lead. The 16-year-old Filipino had to do take it after five breakpoints.
The Czech then registered her second break of an Eala serve in the following game, taking that game to love. She consolidated the break on her next service game.
Nonetheless, Eala wasted no time to wrap up the set and take the set advantage, reversing her previous service game.
The win is Filipino tennis ace’s second title of the year after winning the W25 Manacor pro tournament; and her second in two years in the ITF Juniors calendar after the Cape Town JA leg of the 2019 tour.
