Filipino tennis ace Alex Eala looks to end her losing spell against Czech players dubbed as the 'Czech Curse,' as she guns for the WTA 125 Birmingham Classic title in England on Sunday evening in Manila.
Eala faces upstart Nikola Bartunkova at 6:30 p.m. (barring any delay), aiming to get her first win against a Czech player in the professional level.
Seeking her second title after the Guadalajara 125 in September last year, the 21-year-old Eala has never won against 13 players from the Czech Republic she met before.
World No. 37, the top-seeded Eala hopes to end that slump against the 20-year-old Bartunkova who was actually her doubles partner in this Birmingham tournament.
However, Eala’s partnership with the world No. 69 Bartunkova did not work well as they fell to local bets Harriet Dart and Maia Lumsden, 4-6, 6-2, 9-11, in the first round (round of 16 ) on June 1.
Switching to the singles side, both players won four straight matches to forged a final battle.
The 5-foot-9 lefty Eala punched her championship round ticket after dispatching Swiss Rebeka Masarova in a rain-delayed semifinal match, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, early Sunday.
The 6-foot Bartunkova advanced to the final after taking down American Ashlyn Krueger in the other semis pairing, 6-4, 7-6(7). NIEL VICTOR C MASOY
