FILIPINO tennis wunderkind Alex Eala and American partner Madison Sieg topped the Trofeo Bonfiglio girls’ doubles event in Milan, Italy, on Saturday night (Manila time).
The duo defeated the tandem of Lucija Čirić Bagarić of Croatia and Sofia Costoulas of Belgium (6-4, 4-6, 13-11) in the finals of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) JA tournament.
It was the second girls’ doubles title for 16-year-old Eala in 2021 following her conquest of the French Open title with Russian Oksana Selekhmeteva in June.
Mses. Eala and Sieg built an early 3-0 cushion in the opening set of the Milan finals but saw their opponents level the count at 4-4 after. They were able to recover from it, however, taking the next two games to claim the frame.
In the second set, the Croatian-Belgian team made another spirited charge back midway, forcing another 4-4 stalemate. But unlike in the opening frame, it got to finish the comeback to force a deciding set.
The decider was nip-and-tuck with Mses. Bagarić and Costoulas gaining early control.
Mses. Eala and Sieg though would tie the score at 5-5 and overtake their opponents, 7-6, to claim the lead for the first time in the third set.
The teams did not budge after, fighting to an 11-all count. But the Filipino-American tandem would beat its rival duo to the punch, winning the next two games to close out the proceedings and take the win.
The championship was a culmination of an impressive run of Mses. Eala and Sieg, the third and 16th juniors players in the world, respectively, in Milan.
In the road to the title, they beat Stefana Bojića (Romania) and Matilde Jorge (Portugal) in the first round; Russians Anastasiia Gureva and Ekaterina Maklakova in the second; Yaroslava Bartashevich and Ksenia Zaytseva in the quarterfinals; and Kira Pavlova and Diana Shnaider in the semifinals.
It could well be a double celebration for Rafa Nadal Academy scholar and Globe ambassador Eala as she was also set to compete in the finals of the girls’ singles event later on Sunday against Czech Republic’s Nikola Bartunkova. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo
