By Jean Malanum | Philippine News Agency
Filipino tennis ace Alex Eala reached the Guadalajara 125 Open finals after beating American Kayla Day, 6-2, 6-3, at the Panamerican Tennis Center hardcourt in Zapopan, Mexico on Saturday morning (Manila time).
She will face Hungarian Panna Udvardy, who prevailed over Russian Maria Kozyreva, 6-3, 6-4.
To reach the semifinals, the world No. 75 Eala defeated Italian Nicole Fossa Huergo, 7-6 (2), 6-2; American Varvara Lepchenko, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (3), 6-3; and Dutch Arianne Hartono, 6-2, 6-2.
World No. 134 Udvardy, on the other hand, beat Mexican Jessica Hinojosa Gomez, 6-3, 6-2 (1st round), Czech Nikola Bartnkova, 7-6, 6-2 (2nd round), and British fourth seed Francesca Jones, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 (quarterfinals).
The 20-year-old Eala, who trained at the Rafael Nadal Academy in Spain, made her debut on the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Tour in 2021.
At the 2025 Miami Open in March, she defeated Grand Slam champions Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, American Madison Keys, and Polish Iga Swiatek to reach the semifinal round, eventually losing to American Jessica Pegula, 6-7 (3), 7-5, 3-6.
Eala, who won the US Open Junior singles title in 2022, reached her first WTA finals at the Lexus Eastbourne Open in June, bowing to Australian Maya Joint, 4-6, 6-1, 6-7 (10).
Last month at the US Open, Eala survived world No. 14 Carla Tauson of Denmark, 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (13-11), in the first round to become the first Filipino to win a main draw match at a Grand Slam event.
She, however, failed to advance after losing to Spanish Cristina Bucsa, 4-6, 3-6, in the second round.
The final round of the Guadalajara 125 Open is set for Sunday morning (Manila time).
