Reigning US Open girls singles champion Alex Eala snatched her fourth International Tennis Federation (ITF) title, dominating Arina Rodionova of Australia, 6-2, 6-3, at the final of the ITF W25 Roehampton tournament in London on Sunday.
The 18-year-old from Quezon City bossed the baseline and showed topnotch grit in long rallies to repulse the 19-year veteran and 13-time champion of the ITF pro circuit.
Rodionova, ranked 84 notches higher than the world number 250 Filipina, netted numerous returns in those long rallies, resulting in Eala’s 34 receiving points.
Inflicting forced errors to Rodionova set the big difference for Eala as Rodionova scored a paltry 22 receiving points.
With the win, Eala ups her career earnings by $25,000 (P1.4 million) and now has $161,169 (P9.1 million) on her account.
Thirty points are also to be added on her ranking points as she is expected to climb the table en route to the U.S. Open.
It is to be determined though if she will join the qualifiers for the women’s singles tournament of the final grand slam of the year as she has skipped the French Open and Wimbledon.
Her only seniors grand slam appearance was in this year’s Australian Open, where she lost on the first qualifying match against Misaki Doi.
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