Eala to be conferred Congressional Medal

MANILA, Philippines — Negros Occidental 3rd District Rep. Jose Francisco Benitez has proposed a Congressional Medal of Distinction to Alex Eala for her major breakthrough of winning the US Open junior championship.

House Resolution 372 seeks the conferment of the Medal of Distinction to Eala, whose father Mike traces his family roots in Victorias City, Negros Occidental.

Benitez cited Eala’s success as a source of pride and inspiration for the Filipino people.

“Alex’s phenomenal performance and historic victory at the US Open brings great honor and joy to our country, and serves as beacon of hope and inspiration for Filipino athletes and the youth,” he said.

Eala soared back into the Top 50 International Tennis Federation (ITF) world junior rankings after her big triumph.

The Filipina tennis pride leapt 132 notches all the way from No. 167 to No. 35 with 1,106.75 points despite only a single event this season.

That lone tilt proved to be a giant springboard as the 17-year-old Eala harvested 1,000 points from a breakthrough singles Grand Slam.

A two-time doubles Grand Slam titlist in the 2020 Australian Open and 2021 French Open, Eala’s championship in the US tennis major was also the first for the Philippines in any singles Grand Slam tournament.

It made her return to juniors play a sweet double jackpot.

Eala, a scholar of the Rafael Nadal Academy in Spain, was once the world junior No. 2 player last year but slid outside Top 150 due to inactivity after opting to spend more time in the women’s professional circuit.

In her comeback, the No. 10 seed Eala was relentless the entire tournament without a single set allowed through six rounds highlighted by a 6-2, 6-4 finals win over No. 3 seed and world junior No. 2 Lucie Havlickova of Czech Republic.

Havlickova (3,598.5), despite the loss, overtook Belgium’s Sofia Costoulas (3,085.5) to become the new world junior No.1 player.

Aside from the Czech ace, Eala toppled top-ranked opponents in her US Open run including No. 7 Victoria Mboko of Canada, No. 10 Taylah Preston of Australia, No. 12 Mirra Andreeva of Russia, No. 18 Annabelle Xu of Canada and No. 28 Nina Vargova of Slovakia.

In the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), Eala also slightly improved to No. 288 from No. 297 with two titles to show in the 2021 W15 Manacor in Spain and 2022 W25 Chiang Rai in Thailand.