TEEN tennis phenom Alex Eala was unable to hold back her tears after registering twin victories during the W100 Vitoria-Gasteiz tennis tourney held in Spain.
Eala accomplished a rare tennis double, which she called a “fairytale finish,” having won earlier the doubles crown with long-time doubles tennis partner, French player Estelle Cascino, over Lia Karatancheva of Bulgaria and Diana Marcinkevica of Latvia, 6-3, 2-6, 10-4.
It was the duo’s second title since ruling the W75 Croissy-Beaubourg in France last March.
In less than 24 hours, Eala then annexed the singles crown after defeating Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva of Andorra via a 6-4, 6-4 triumph.
Her road to victory was not easy, but Eala played impeccably well, never dropping a set in her marvelous run to the W100 Vitoria-Gasteiz crown.
Her first victim was Lian Tran of the Netherlands via a 6-4, 6-2 victory, followed by a 7-5, 7-5 triumph over local bet Lucia Cortez Llorca. She then subdued Ukraine’s Yulia Starodubtsewa and escaped with a 7-6(5), 6-4 drubbing.
Eala then ruled over Mexico’s Maria Jose Portillo Ramirez with a masterful 6-2, 6-1 conquest in the singles semifinal.
With this twin victory, Eala again achieved a new career-high in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) ranking. As of July 22, 2024, Eala is now at 143rd place, jumping 12 places from her previous WTA rank of 155.