Lawyer Jessica Agra teamed up with top Indonesian tennis player Bea Gumulya to clinch the women’s doubles’ title at the Pro Women’s event of the Asia Pacific Padel Tour (APPT) Phuket Open 2024 in Thailand.
Playing as a duo for the first time, Agra and Gumulya hurdled the best in Asia, including Chinese pairs Michelle Wu and Shaiya Chaiu whom they beat, 6-0, 6-4 in the finals of this tournament sanctioned by the Federación Internacional de Pádel, the world governing body for the sport of padel.
Padel Pilipinas, headed by Sen. Pia Cayetano, is the governing body for the sport in the Philippines and recognized by the Philippine Olympic Committee.
Agra and Gumulya are expected to move up in the APPT ranking following their victory.
In the seminals, they pounded a 6-2 6-1 win against Jessy Rompies and Jessica Johan of Indonesia and a 6-2 6-3 against Olga Khlopetskaya and Irina Chernayaof Russia in the quarters.
“I’m very happy with our win. Bea and I have competed against each other both in tennis and in padel and it was a great experience to be on the same side of the court this time around. I think we played well together. I’m thankful we had the opportunity to be partners,” said Agra.
Before her recent feat, Agra was steadily climbing the women’s ranking in the APTT (Asia-Pacific Tennis Tour) following impressive performances in the APPT Hong Kong Grand Slam last month, where she reached the semifinals in both women’s and mixed Pro doubles, earning her the No. 6 spot.
Having been a top junior tennis player with three ITF junior doubles’ titles, Agra’s shift to padel began in 2022 after observing tennis players she knew enjoying the sport on Instagram.
Agra is the daughter of top-notch lawyer Albero Agra, also the president of the Philippine Obstacle Sports Federation.
She began playing casually and gradually increased her commitment, training at the Manila Padel Club since 2023 and intensifying her regimen to at least four times a week this year.
Agra’s string of victories, including the APPT Vietnam Open (mixed Pro), MartinX Academy’s Tournament Open, 4th and 2nd Philippine National Padel Championships (Mixed Open and Women’s Open, respectively), and 1st Play Padel Open (Women’s Open).
Off the playing court, Agra boasts of an impressive academic background, earning a political science degree in 2013 from Santa Clara University in California on a tennis scholarship.
She studied law at Ateneo and passed the bar in 2019. She pursued specialized studies in Entertainment Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship Law, obtaining a Graduate certificate and a Master of Laws degree from the University of Southern California in 2020.