FILE – Alex Eala. Photo from Alex Eala’s Facebook
MANILA, Philippines — Alex Eala eyes her first International Tennis Federation (ITF) doubles crown as a pro in the W50 Pune on Saturday evening (Manila time) in India.
Eala and her Latvian partner Darja Semenistaja took down Japanese pair Saki Imamura and Naho Sato in the semifinal, 7-6(5), 6-3, on Friday to reach the final in the $50,000 tournament.
Eala and Semenistaja battle top seeds Naiktha Bains of the United Kingdom and Fanni Stollar of Hungary in the championship.
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The 18-year-old Filipino is making her second ITF doubles final since her runner-up finish in the $ 25,000 ITF tournament in Platja d’Aro, Spain last May 2021.
The Rafael Nadal Academy graduate has yet to win a doubles title as a pro. She already won twice in Junior Grand Slam tournaments in the 2020 Australian Open and 2021 French Open and earned three ITF junior doubles titles out of five final appearances.
Eala, however, was eliminated by her partner Semenistaja in the W50 Pune singles quarterfinal, 6(6)-7, 0-6, before winning in the doubles.
She opened her campaign with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Stollar in the first round and took down Indian Zeel Desai, 6-1, 6-2, before getting ousted by her doubles partner.