Alex Eala’s world rankings is expected to spike to another high this week.
The 19-year-old Eala made this possible, after she and French partner Estelle Cascino snared their second doubles’ crown, this time in the ITF W100 Vitoria-Gasteiz in Spain on Saturday (Sunday in Manila).
The third-seeded pair played a steadier game and got past Lia Karatancheva of Bulgaria and Diana Marcinkevica of Latvia, 6-3, 2-6, 10-4, in the finals at the Peña Vitoriana Tennis Club.
Their second title conquest together came four months after Eala and Casino surprised the field in the ITF W75 Croissy-Beaubourg last March.
The unseeded Karatancheva and Marcinkevica arranged a finals’ showdown with Eala and Cascino after they upset top seeds Eden Silva of Great Britain and Valeriya Strakhova of Ukraine, 3-6, 6-3, 12-10.
Eala and Cascino took charge early after taking a 4-2 lead in the first set, breaking serve twice before winning the set, 6-3.
After Karatancheva and Marcinkevica took the second, 6-2, Eala and Cascino pulled away from a 1-all tie by grabbing the next seven points for an 8-1 edge.
It took Eala and Cascino around 72 minutes to finish their match.
Eala also made the finals of the singles after disposing of over Maria Jose Portillo Ramirez of Mexico, 6-2, 6-1, also on Saturday.
She will meet 18-year-old Victoria Jiménez Kasintseva of Andorra.
Kasintseva put away second seed Jessika Ponchet of France, 6-2, 6-2 in the semifinals.
