Eala to compete in Abu Dhabi Open
THE Philippines’ tennis pride Alex Eala gets to test her mettle against a star-studded opposition at the Abu Dhabi Open slated from February 3 to 11 at International Tennis Centre, Zayed Sports City in the United Arab Emirates.
Getting a wild card berth, world no. 187 Eala will have a chance to compete against household names and former Grand Slam winners Naomi Osaka of Japan and Emma Raducanu of Great Britain who are also wild card earners in the event.
The main draw entrants are world No. 5 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, No. 6 Ons Jabeaur of Tunisia, No. 8 Maria Sakkari of Greece, No. 10 Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, No.11 Barbora Krejcikova of Czech Republic, No. 12 Daria Kasatkina of Russia, No. 13 Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil and No. 14 Liudmila Samsonova of Russia.
In an Instagram video on Wednesday, Eala said she’s excited to play in Abu Dhabi.
“I can’t wait to play in front of all the fans at the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open this February. Make sure to get your tickets and I hope to see you soon.”
Eala is entering the prestigious Abu Dhabi Open with a winning confidence after snaring her first professional doubles title, joining forces with Latvian partner Darja Semenistaja to rule the W50 Pune in India on Saturday evening (Manila time).
Eala and Semenistaja defeated the top-seed duo of Naiktha Bains of the United Kingdom and Fanny Stollar of Hungary in the final, 7-6(8), 6-3.
The 18-year-old Eala thus seized her sixth overall doubles title, having won five in the juniors division including the 2020 Australian Open and 2021 French Open.
“First doubles title. Thanks Darja Semenistaja,” Eala wrote in a social media post as she thanked Semistaja who defeated her in the quarterfinals of the tournament’s singles division.
The Latvian netter yielded to Japanese Moyuka Uchijima in the semifinals.
Seeded fourth in the doubles division, Eala and Semenistaja clawed back from a 4-5 hole in the opener of the championship round to force a tiebreak where they proved to be steadier than Bains and Stollar.
Riding the wave of momentum of that gutsy first set win, the Filipino-Latvian pair jumped on the British-Hungarian tandem with a 5-2 game lead in the second frame.
Bains and Stollar would win the eighth game before Eala and Semistaja finished them off in the ninth, ending the match in one hour and 16 minutes.