Photo Source: TTV
Alexandra Eala made history on Friday in Eastbourne, becoming the first Filipina to ever reach a WTA final.
The fiery southpaw edged France’s Varvara Gracheva 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 to set a title clash with 19-year-old Maya Joint of Australia.
It was tense times for Eala, who struggled and squandered a break lead in the final set before she reeled through the final three games to win the battle of qualifiers.
74th-ranked Eala has come of age on the grass, using her flat backhand and furious footwork to employ a balanced attack, and taking wins over Lucia Bronzetti, Jelena Ostapenko, Dayana Yastremska and Gracheva.
She was fighting back tears as she conducted her post-match interview.
“I’m supper happy she said, “because it was a tough match. There were really tough moments where she was playing well and I sometimes didn’t know how to get out of it – I’m really happy with the win.”
Eala will face 19-year-old Maya Joint in the final. It will be the youngest final in terms of combined age at Eastbourne since 1981.
Joint took out Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 7-5, 6-3.
Eala’s win was a bit of a roller coaster. She led 4-1 in the opening set, then trailed 5-4. After storming back to win the final three games of the opener, she led 2-0 in the second set, but then lost the next six games.
“It was a challenge from both of us, physically and mentally,” Eala said. “We both came from qualies, and she is a really solid player and had some moments where she was really dominating – the fact that I was able to stay there and wait for my opportunities, it’s a big achievement from me today.”
Both Joint (career-high 46) and Eala (career-high 56) are at new highs in the WTA live rankings.