MANILA — Teen netter Alexandra “Alex” Eala of the Philippines stormed to the final of the W25 Chiang Rai tournament in Thailand with a resolute 6-3, 6-4 win over YeXin Ma of China on Saturday.

Eala, the 2021 W15 Manacor champion, will seek to bag her second professional title on Sunday against 28-year-old wild card and Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) World No. 955 Luksika Kumkhum of Thailand, who dispatched WTA World No. 542 Erika Sema of Japan 6-4, 6-4.

It took 1 hour and 21 minutes for WTA World No. 533 Eala to move past WTA World No. 545 Ma on Court 2 of the Chiang Rai Sports Center.

The semifinal began with a close fight between 16-year-old Eala and 22-year-old Ma, who were unrelenting in their service games.

Eala had a chance to break in the fourth game, but Ma determinedly saved two break points.

The window of opportunity came in the eighth game, where Eala advanced to 40-15.

With Ma’s second serve, the rally ended with a forehand volley error from the Chinese in response to a backhand lob by the Filipino, allowing Eala to serve for the set at 5-3.

A smooth forehand drop shot by Eala gave her a 30-0 edge in the ninth game, while a backhand error from Ma awarded Eala two set points at 40-15.

Eala changed things up by serving down the T, then firing a forehand down the line to claim the first set, 6-3, in 34 minutes.

She went on to lead at 2-0 in the second set by breaking serve, then saving two break points.

Ma leveled at 2-2 with a service hold and a break of serve that was sealed with a backhand down the line winner.

At 3-3, a forehand error from Ma gave Eala a crucial break point, which was converted after the Chinese committed a double fault.

Eala kept her focus in the eighth game to extend her lead to 5-3, which was clinched with a forehand down the line winner.

Ma held serve to trail at 4-5, then advanced to 30-0 in the 10th game, where Eala was serving for the match.

Errors from the Chinese allowed Eala to level at 30-30, and a costly backhand slice error awarded the Filipino a match point.

In the following rally, Eala let out a whipping backhand, to which Ma responded with a netted forehand. This handed the Filipino the second set and the match, 6-4.

Eala’s road to the finals of the $25,000 Thai tournament began with the Rafa Nadal Academy player eliminating qualifier Katarina Kozarov of Serbia, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, in the opening round.

She ousted wildcard Patcharin Cheapchandej of Thailand, 6-3, 6-4, in the second round, then routed Momoko Kobori of Japan, 6-3, 6-3, in the quarterfinals.

Meanwhile, in the W25 Chiang Rai doubles draw, Thai wildcards Cheapchandej and Punnin Kovapitukted edged out Eala and singles No. 1 seed Indy de Vroome of the Netherlands, 4-6, 7-5, 10-6, in the first round.

Prior to joining the International Tennis Federation (ITF) World Tennis Tour Women’s Asia/Oceania tilt in Thailand, Eala competed at last month’s Miami Open as a wildcard.

In the first round, she suffered a 2-6, 1-6 defeat at the hands of then WTA World No. 59 Madison Brengle of the United States.

It was the WTA 1000 main draw debut of Eala, a recipient of the 2022 ITF Grand Slam Player Development Programme.

• Tennis: Alex Eala through to W25 Thailand semis
• Tennis: Alex Eala moves to quarterfinals of W25 Thailand

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