Out of US Open, Eala scores first 2020 triumph

Alex Eala rues the fact that she won’t get to test her skills in New York this year.

“I was very disappointed to hear that the US Open juniors was canceled,” the promising 15-year-old told the Inquirer on Friday. “I was really looking forward to it, hoping to improve my result from last year.”

“It’s (US Open) an amazing tournament, and one of my favorites for sure, but I would say that it’s probably for the best considering the current COVID situation in the US,” added Eala, who reached the second round of the US Open girls tournament.

But Eala knows to count her blessings.

As the rest of the sporting world continues to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic, Eala continues to make good use of her time at Rafael Nadal Academy, where she is a scholar.

“I took the opportunity to work on specific things in my game that I wouldn’t normally have the time to improve back when I was traveling a lot more,” Eala said. “Throughout this period of time I put a lot of attention to my fitness and trained more hours than I did before quarantine.”

And she has a first victory for 2020 in the books, too.

Eala ruled the recent Circuit Illes Balear Toni Nadal Heliocare tournament in Mallorca—in a smashing fashion.

“I was very pleased with my performance. I think that anyone would be very thrilled to win their first tournament after not competing on court for such a long time,” the World No. 4 junior said.

She blasted away girls’ World No. 28 Matilda Mutavdzic of Great Britain with 4-0, 4-1 for the title.

On her way to the finals, Eala scored shutout wins over Italians Sofia Neri (4-0, 4-0) and Isabella Righi (4-0, 4-0) in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively.

“This win definitely [will give] me much more confidence going into my following tournaments,” she said.

Eala, one half of this year’s Australian Open girls champion, is expected to play in International Tennis Federation competitions next month.