THREE days after she won her first Women’s Tennis Association Tour title, Alex Eala dug deep into her bag of arsenal to beat Alycia Parks of the United States, 6-1, 4-6, 6-2, Thursday morning (Manila time) in the WTA 1000 National Bank Open at Sobeys Stadium Centre Court in Toronto, Canada.
World No. 20 Eala, the newly crowned Washington Open queen, exacted vengeance on No. 71 Parks after losing to her in the first round at the Australian Open, 6-0, 3-6, 2-6, last January.
The 21-year-old Filipina opened Thursday’s match in dominant fashion, but the American came out strong in the second frame to tie the count after scoring 10 aces.
Eala, however, took advantage of Parks’ errors in the deciding frame as she finished the match with a 6-2 victory, sending the Filipinos in the crowd into a frenzy.
“There are so many Filipinos in the crowd tonight. So many [Philippine] flags,” Eala said, expressing her gratitude as she was surprised by the number of her countrymen who watched the match and chanted “Eala, Eala.”
“I am eternally grateful. I just came off Washington, and I feel that is a celebration. Alam niyo, ’yung linggo, linggo ko kayong nakikita at sinusuportahan niyo ako. Linggo-linggo ko rin nakikita kung gaano niyo mahal ang kapwa niyo Pinoy (I am eternally grateful. I just came off Washington, and I feel that is a celebration. You know, every week I see you, and you support me. Every week I also see how much you love your fellow Filipinos),” she added.
The greater Toronto area is home to over 250,000 people of Filipino descent, the largest Filipino community in Canada.
It was no surprise that Eala felt like it was more of a home game for her.
“I am very proud, very, very proud to be a Filipino. Thank you so much to my kababayan. Mahal ko kayong lahat (Thank you so much to my fellow Filipinos, I love you all),” she said.
Eala received a first-round bye in the tournament while Parks defeated Victoria Jiménez Kasintseva, 6-4, 6-4, in the opening round.
Eala will next face American Caty McNally in the round of 32 on Saturday.
McNally, ranked 70th in the world, pulled off a stunner over No. 7 Linda Nosková, 7-6(5), 6-1 on Thursday.
Eala, however, will be on doubles duty on Saturday with the rising tennis star partnering with tennis legend Venus Williams.
They will face Liudmila Samsonova and Miyu Kato in the round of 32.
Eala and Williams teamed up at the Bad Homburg Open last June and reached the quarterfinal round with Williams calling Eala her “best partner.”
They were initially scheduled to play as a tandem at the Washington Open, but Eala withdrew from the doubles event to focus on her singles campaign which she aced.
