Sourced online by Tracy Cabrera
WINNING US$33,650 (roughly ₱2 million) in prize money for capturing the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) 125 Birmingham Open title, the country’s pride Alexandra ‘Alex’ Eala clinched the WTA’s No. 33 world ranking with her triumph over Czechia’s rising star Nikola Bartunkova, 5-7, 6-3, 7-5, in the finals.
The hard-fought three-set victory, Eala’s second WTA 125 crown, ended a 13-match losing streak for our champion against Czech opponents and puts her just four spots away from matching her career-high ranking of World No. 29.
However, despite all the honor and accolades and monetary success, there is respite for the 21-year-old and she simply has no time to rest on her laurels as she needs to immediately plunge back into action in the HSBC Championships which started yesterday at the Queen’s Club in London.
The newly crowned Birmingham queen is set to meet today China two-time doubles Grand Slam champion Shuai Zhang, who is currently ranked No. 73 (as of May 2926). Given just a one-day break, Eala takes the competition as part of her long build-up for Wimbledon from June 29 to July 12.
Although Zhang is ranked lower, the match-up will be a baptism of fire for Alex even after her promotion to the main draw. Her opponent has a singles ranking of No. 22 reached in January 2023 and a career-high doubles ranking of world No. 2 achieved in July 2022.
Still, our promising tennis champion
will look for a grand follow-up in the 500-level tour tentatively set at 5:00 this afternoon (Manila time).
The HSBC Championships is one of the oldest grass tournaments in the world which was founded in 1889. It is also known as the Queen’s Club Championships.
Eala advanced into the tournament’s main draw as a late replacement in lieu of Jessica Pegula and Hailey Baptiste of the United States, who both withdrew due to injuries. The other replacement is Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic.
In an interview after grabbing the Birmingham crown, Alex commented: “It’s one of those days where a little bit of luck and intention were what got me through. I’m motivated to keep working.”
She celebrated her second WTA 125 championship win with a late-dinner sandwich at her hotel before a quick windup to London.
At the Queen’s Club, Eala faces a stacked field led by world No. 2 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, No. 5 Amanda Anisimova of the United States, No. 9 Victoria Mboko of Canada, No. 11 Belinda Bencic of Switzerland and her good friend Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine.
Just like in Birmingham and all her other tournament runs, Eala is counting on the strength of the Filipino crowd backing her up once more in London.
“I like to say home is a people, not a place,” beamed Eala as she looks forward to teaming up with former World No. 1 and seven-time Grand Slam champion champion Venus Williams in the WTA 500 Bad Homburg Open from June 21-27 in Germany for a historic partnership.
