Fourteen-year-old Philippine tennis sensation Alexandra Eala did not expect to go very far in the junior division of the 2020 Australian Open.
But now that it’s over, Eala has moved up in the International Tennis Federation girls’ rankings, from ninth to eighth place two weeks ago, to no. 4 in the world by Sunday at the end of the 2020 Australian Open, where she won the girls’ doubles crown with Indonesian partner Priska Madelyn Nugroh.
The vast experience of her Aussie Open opponents looked daunting at first.
But hard work and detailed preparations helped Eala get the crown.
“You really don’t know what to expect in a tournament at this high level, with everyone being experienced and being so good. We just put whatever we could and be prepared,” said Eala, who talked about her experience playing and winning in the Australian Open during a gathering Monday evening at the Regent Parkway Condominium at the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig City.
Last Friday, Eala reached a milestone when she and Nugroho won the girls’ doubles crown in the junior division of the Australian Open in Melbourne Park.
In reaching their first Grandslam finals, Eala and Nugroho fought their way to a 6-1, 6-2 triumph over unseeded Matilda Mutavdzic of Great Britain and Ziva Faulkner of Slovenia.
Her triumph with Nugroho was considered a historical win for Philippine tennis as Eala became the second Filipino Grand Slam champion in the Australian Open and its first female winner.
Eleven years ago, Filipino Francis Casey Alcantara and Cheng-Peng Hsieh of Taiwan claimed the 2009 Australian Open Jr. boys’ doubles title.
With the win, Eala emerged as the world’s no. 4 player in the ITF junior rankings after playing 22 events for the whole of the year 2019, culminating in the Traralgon and Australian Open juniors’ tournament.
Diane Parry of France stayed at the no. 1 spot after 17 events in 2019.
Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva of Andorra, the Australian Open 2020 girls’ singles winner, emerged as the no. 2-ranked player after seeing action in 34 events, moving up 17 notches from no. 19.
Darla Snigur of the Ukraine is at no. 3 with 1930 points, followed by Eala and Robin Montgomery of the United States, who played 26 events and collected a total of 1667.5 points.
Eala left Manila on Tuesday with her brother Miko to return to Mallorca, Spain to resume training under the Rafa Nadal Academy.
Eala’s coaches at the RNA now have bigger plans for the Filipina – a first-ever campaign in women’s professional tennis in the French Open women’s singles and doubles.
“There’s nothing really special. I always trained really hard. But I think, mentally, I also need to prepare for this because, I know that there are a lot of people supporting me and counting on me. And I’m glad I did well,” added Eala.
Her partnership with Nugroho also worked well. That’s because they have been teaming up in many age-group competitions since they were eight years old, and their partnership in a Grand Slam event was a reunion of sorts since they have not played together for the last three years.
“The result was better than expected,” said Eala.
Nugroho is expected to team up with Eala in future tournaments.
Eala and Nugroho were seeded fourth in the doubles, reaching the finals after they upset top seeds Kamilla Bartone of Latvia and Czech Linda Fruhvirtova, 1-6, 7-5 , 10-8, in a thrilling semis which lasted an hour and 22 minutes.
In singles’ play, Eala went as far as the third round, bowing to Israel’s Shavit Kimchi, 6-0, 4-6, 6-2.
“When she competed in the Australian Open, we were unprepared to receive a new champion in the family. But we are proud of Alex for winning the doubles,” said former Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner Noli Eala, a cousin of Eala’s father Michael.
Eala, the first Filipina to compete at a Grand Slam since 1991, comes from a sporting family.
Her mother Rizza Maniego was a swimmer, who competed internationally and once represented the country in the Southeast Asian Games.
Rizza also broke the national records in the 200-meter and 400-m individual medleys during her time with the national squad.