Alex Eala captures her first championship title of the year

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

Filipina tennis superstar Alex Eala finally won her first championship title of 2022 after dominating Luksika Kumkhum 6-4, 6-2, during the ITF Women’s World Tour W25 Asia-Oceania tournament held in Thailand.

After several first-round exits and semifinals heartbreakers, Eala is back on track and gained more confidence after taking down her Thai foe in her own territory.

Eala started the match blazing hot on offense as the Filipina relentlessly punished Kumkhum in the baseline with her powerful and efficient forehand bombs.

Aside from her signature baseline game, Eala’s consistent and high-percentage first service game helped her control the tempo and score easier points.

Kumkhum attempted to deadlock the score at 4-4 in the first set when she started to pick up her groove and attacked Eala at the net.

However, Eala matched Kumkhum’s aggressiveness going in with her offensive power that left the Thai guessing where the ball will go next whenever she closed the distance in the net area.

After taking the first set, Eala cruised through the next and final set and just asserted her mastery over Kumkhum when she limited her to only two points.

The huge tournament win handed Eala with the ITF W25 Asia-Oceania prize money of $3,935 (202,947 pesos).

Eala is yet to confirm her next plans whether she will continue joining all the ITF W25 professional circuits or head back to the Rafael Nadal Tennis Academy and train for the upcoming 2022 Southeast Asian Games.