Alex Eala drubs Chinese foe to book finals slot in Thai tourney

MANILA, Philippines — Alex Eala is back in the finals of an ITF tournament for the first time since January 2021.

Eala punched her ticket to the championship match of the W25 Chiang Rai in Thailand, besting China's YeXin Ma, 6-3, 6-4, on Saturday.

The Filipina tennis wunderkind needed 1 hour and 21 minutes to sweep YeXin and enter her first ITF final since W15 Manacor back in 2021 where she won the title.

In the second set, YeXin looked poised to try and make a run for a third-set decider when she took a 3-2 lead.

But Eala quickly bounced back by holding her serve in the sixth game and blanking YeXin.

This buoyed her to win three of the four next games to claim the victory.

She faces the winner of the other semifinal match between Japan's Erika Sema and Luksika Kumkhum in the battle for the crown.