MANILA, Philippines – Alex Eala has served a strong notice to the rest of the field in this May’s Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam: she will be one of the top gold medal contenders.
Eala made short work of hometown bet Luksika Kumkhum, 6-4, 6-2, to capture the crown in the International Tennis Federation (ITF) W25 Chiang Rai on Sunday, April 10 at the Chiang Rai Sports Center in Thailand.
In ruling the $25,000 event, the 16-year-old Eala clinched her second singles title as a professional player – a feat that came a year after she won last year’s $15,000 ITF event in Manacor, Spain.
Kumkhum, a 28-year-old Thai veteran, actually kicked off the final match by breaking Eala’s serve in the very first game of the opening set.
Just when the home crowd thought Kumkhum’s experience and savvy would carry her through against her younger opponent, Eala stormed right back and broke the Thai’s serve to even the count at 1-all.
With the score tied at 4-all, Eala faced a double break point at 15-40. The Filipina teen prodigy showed nerves of steel to overhaul the deficit and eventually held serve to go up 5-4.
That would be the last time Eala would allow Kumkhum to seriously pose a threat as she closed out the first set by breaking Kumkhum in the 10th game.
The second set was all Eala. Kumkhum, an Asian Games doubles gold medalist and singles silver medalist and a two-time SEA Games gold medalist, simply had no answer to Eala’s powerful ground strokes.
Eala raced to a 4-1 lead and never let Kumkhum, once ranked 66th in the world who has made the third round of the Australian Open in 2018, back into the match. Eala closed out the championship match by again breaking the Thai’s serve.
The Filipina teen returns to the same Chiang Rai courts next week in another ITF $25,000 tournament scheduled to begin on Tuesday, April 12. – Rappler.com
Alex Eala captures 2nd career pro title with ITF Thailand conquest - Rappler
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