Alex Eala van de Filippijnen sheds a tear after her defeat for the Maya-Joint of Australia in the last tennis competition of their ladies singles on day six of the Lexus Eastbourne International Tennis Tournament in Eastbourne, Zuid-Engeland, on 28 June 2025. Joint won the match in three sets, 12-10. (Photo by Adrian Dennis / AFP)
Manila, Philippijnen-Alex Eala was short of winning her first Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) championship after a heartbreaking 4-6, 6-1, -7 loss for Maya Joint of Australia in the Lexus Eastbourne Open Final on Saturday evening (Manila Time).
In the very first game between rising stars, EALA staggered after wasting four championship points in the Tiebreak to hand over the WTA 250 title to Joint, which crashed to the ground after delivering the winner to survive the debilitating competition.
Read: Alex Eala stands for defending champion in Wimbledon Main Draw Debut
The story continues 📖
Alexandra Eala responds by taking the second set 6-1 against Joint.#Lexuseasterbourneopen pic.twitter.com/kqzswqu3jq
– WTA (@WTA) June 28, 2025
Eala takes tears while she lost steam in her first WTA final and her first on grass, and this season.
She was two points away from the title with a 5-3 lead in the tiebreak before the 19-year-old joint dragged her to several extensions.
The 20-year-old also blew a 2-0 lead in the third set, because the World No. 51-Netter four straight matches won to turn the tables for a 4-2 advantage.
Eala was quick to get her act together and insisted three consecutive games to reach the championship point, 5-4, only for joints to force a decision-maker.
The graduated Rafa Nadal Academy started flat in the opening set and fell a 2-5 deficit to the Aussie-Wonderkind. But she was able to lower it to one, 4-5, but only for joint to pack the 10th game and pull first blood.
Read: Alex Eala reaches the first WTA Tour -Final on Eastbourne Open
Anxiously bounced the Filipino tennis sensation back and dominated the second, using a 2-0 start to set the tone on the way to setting the decisive set.
Less than 24 hours ago, Eala finished a grim French Varvara Gracheva, 7-5, 2-6, 6-3, to continue to the championship game.
The World No. 74 worked its way of the qualifications and defeated Zeynep Sonmez, 6-1, 6-3, and Hailey Baptiste, 6 (1) -7, 7-6 (4), 6-1, to continue to the main drawing.
She won Lucia Bronzetti, 6-0, 6-1 and won through Walkover against Jelena Ostapenko, 0-6, 6-2, 3-2, to march to the quarterfinals, where she is Dayana Yastremska, 6-1, 6-2.
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Eala will have a short turnaround while she will make her Wimbledon Main Debut against title defender Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic on Monday.
This year it will be her second performance of the Grand Slam for Women, after an exit in the first round at the French Open last May.
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