Eala caps ITF Spain campaign with twin crowns after winning singles title

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

No heavy and excruciating match schedule can stop a hungry superstar.

A day after capturing the doubles championship title in the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Spain 24A tournament, Filipina pride Alex Eala picked up where she left off after also winning the crown in the singles event, beating Andorran star Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva- 6.4, 6.4- on July 21, 2024, in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain.

Eala then marked one of her sweetest ITF tournament runs after clinching back-to-back championships in both the singles and doubles events.

Despite the exhausting doubles title match, Eala still found a way to preserve her tank and quickly pounced on the Andorran challenger to nab an early 5-1 cushion in the opening set.

Just when Eala thought that things would go her way after a set point was called, Kasintseva turned things around, clawing her way back to a one-point deficit courtesy of a 3-0 scoring run.

With pressure on her side, as the Andorran completed the comeback, Eala wisely reverted to her effective baseline game and waited for the perfect timing to unleash her down-the-line baseline bombs.

That move then paid off dividends as Eala’s unforced error tally began to diminish and allowed her to re-build her confidence in the match for a 1-0 lead.

In the second set, the Andorran ace continued to fight, dealing Eala a fiery toe-to-toe battle in the groundstroke exchanges.

However, after Eala scored a crucial break point, the game’s momentum completely shifted her way as she only needed one service hold to seal the match win.

Kasintseva attempted to stay behind the baseline and waited for Eala to commit some costly unforced errors but the Filipina’s killer instincts rose to the occasion and consistently threw a barrage of heavy top spins that became the icing on the cake.

Three days ago, Eala also raised the championship trophy in Spain after winning the doubles grand final match with her French partner, Estelle Cascino.

The dynamic pairing carried their momentum from their dominant sweeping win in the semifinals and fended off the tough challenge from Diana Marcinkevica and Lia Karatancheva- 6.3, 2.6, 10.4- to reign supreme in another ITF grand final stage.