PH heads to world group on winning note

Bannered the country’s most promising tennis stars, the Philippines blasted Japan, 2-0, Saturday to capture the ITF Asia/Oceania 14U championships for the first time ever at Kuala Lumpur’s National Tennis Center in Jalan Duta.

Alex Eala, Alexa Joy Milliam and Jen Prulla combined forces to give the Philippines the historic victory, which also gave the country outright entry to the World Group, something that last happened 26 years ago.

“I’m still over the moon about our making the World Group then we capped the week off by winning the championships,” said Eala, a scholar at Rafael Nadal Academy in Mallorca, Spain. “This is truly one for the books. One of the best weeks ever.”

Eala is one of the country’s brightest young prospects today.

Coached by former national team stalwart Czarina Mae Arevalo, the Filipinos swept all their ties to rule the tournament.

They defeated Sri Lanka (3-0), Indonesia (3-0), New Zealand (2-1), and Hong Kong (2-0) in the quarterfinals that sealed their entry to the Worlds slated this August in Czech Republic.

Refusing to relax despite the feat, the Filipinos went on to defeat Korea in the semifinals (3-0) and eventually Japan in the final.

Tagging along with the Philippines to the World Group are Korea, Japan and China.