Alex Eala of the Philippines became the first Filipino to win a junior Grand Slam singles title, defeating World No. 3 Lucie Havlickova of the Czech Republic, 6-2, 6-4, in the final on Saturday (Sept. 10) afternoon (Sunday, Sept. 11, morning in Manila) at the 2022 US Open held at Flushing Meadows, New York.
The 17-year-old No. 10 seed had to go through tough competition to reach the finals.
That included hurdling the likes of eighth-seed Taylah Preston from Australia, followed by 14th-seed Mirra Andreeva in the quarterfinals and ninth-seed Victoria Mboko from Canada in the semifinals.
All the emotions for Alexandra Eala.
The 🇵🇭 makes history, winning her first junior Grand slam singles 🏆 in straight sets. pic.twitter.com/j1B1NycZ5r
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 10, 2022
“I said that it’s not just my win, it’s all of our wins,” Eala said in the post-match press conference. “I did this not just for myself, I did it so I could help Philippine tennis.” – bny