A come-from-behind victory Wednesday by Alex Eala sent the Filipina tennis star to the semifinals of the women’s singles, guaranteeing her a podium finish and the country its first medal in the sport for the first times in 17 years.
Eala, who recently turned a professional tennis player with a 195 singles ranking in the Women’’s Tennis Association, over came first set loss and 0-2 start in the second set to win her quarterfinals match against Japan’s Kyoka Okamura, 0-6, 7-5, 6-0.
Her win secured the first tennis medal in the Asian Games for the Philippines since 2006, when Cecil Mamiit won the bronze in the men’s singles event. She will also be the first female tennis player to medal Asian Games since 1966, four years before the birth of her mother, Rizza Maniego-Eala, chief finance officer of Globe Telecom and herself an athlete, winning a bronze medal in swimming in the 1985 Southeast Asian Games.
The 18-year-old Eala, competing in her first Asian Games, secured her quarterfinals outing by defeating India’s Rutuja Bhosale in two sets, 7-6(5), 6-2.
The Philippines sent only three tennis players to Hangzhou. Eala, U.S.-based Ruben Gonzales and homegrown Francis Casey Alcantara, who is enter in the men’s singles. Gonzales will team up with Alcantara in the men’s double and with Eala for the mixed doubles.
