Unified Tennis Philippines national junior team players Alexandra Eala and Michael Francis “Miko” Eala dropped a pair of three-set setbacks in varying fashions but impressed a lot by barging into the finals of the International Tennis Federation (ITF)-AGS Junior Tennis Championships in Jakarta, Indonesia recently.
The unranked Alex, 13, bucked the odds and toppled seeded bets on her way to the girls’ singles finals but fell short of her comeback bid against top seed Priska Nugroho of Indonesia, yielding a 2-6, 6-4, 1-6 decision in the ITF Group 4 tournament.
The seventh ranked Miko also upended No. 3 Karan Srivastava, 6-2, 6-1, in the quarters then blasted fifth seed Odeda Arazza, 6-1, 6-2, to earn a crack at the boys’ crown. But after forcing a decider with a tough win, he fell short and dropped a 3-6, 7-6(6), 5-7 decision to top seed Ryoma Matsushita of Japan.
“We congratulate Miko and Alex for proving that the Philippine team is a force to reckon with. We also commend the rest of the UTP national team in this tourney for their sportsmanship and passion for the sport. Rest assured that I and their UTP family will continue to support them,” said UTP president Jean Henri Lhuillier.
Other members of the squad were Bea Acena, Manuel Balce III. Melanie Dizon and Macie Carlos.
“Part of UTP’s mission is to continuously expose emerging Filipino junior tennis players to global competitions, thus giving them the opportunity to hone their skills on and off the court against some of the world’s best junior players,” added Lhuillier.
The Eala siblings also reached the doubles semis with Alex, in partnership with Samantha Nanere of the host country, missing the finals with a 6-7(4), 1-6 loss to Saisa Aher and Janice Tjen, and Miko, with Althaf Dhaifullah, bowing to Matsushita and Lin Han-chih, 6-2, 5-7(9-11).