Her time will come

The fairy tale of Alex in Wonderland continues to unfold, one magical chapter after another. Alex Eala is now ranked World No. 56, the loftiest any tennis player from the Philippines, male or female, has scaled the ladder and the sky’s the limit for the 20-year-old wunderkind.

Last Saturday, she made it to the final of the Lexus Eastbourne Open at Devonshire Park as a qualifier and nearly bagged her first major championship. Eala won six matches on the way to arranging a title showdown with Maya Joint who jumped from World No. 51 to No. 41 with the victory. Joint, 19, showed up with solid credentials, having played in four Grand Slams compared to Eala’s two and topping the Morocco Open last May.

Since storming into the Miami Open semis last March, Eala has won 12 of 20 matches in eight tournaments. The road hasn’t been easy as she failed to advance beyond the first round at the Italian Open, French Open and Birmingham Classic with two of the three setbacks going to a third set. But at Devonshire Park, Eala displayed incredible grit in rebounding from a first set collapse to breeze to a second set rout and come a whiff shy of upsetting Joint in a final that took 2:28 to finish. In the opening set, Joint raced to a 5-2 lead then Eala made it close before losing, 6-4. In the second set, Eala led, 2-0, gave up a game and closed it out with a flourish, 6-1. Eala once more shot ahead, 2-0, in the third but Joint recovered to move up, 4-2. Eala strung eight straight points to even it, 4-4 then it went to a tiebreak. Eala broke out to a 5-2 lead with two mini-breaks but Joint recoiled with her own two mini-breaks. Eala took the next point, 6-5, for the first of four championship points. Joint had her first championship point, 7-6 and saved three more championship points, 8-7, 9-8 and 10-9 before scoring the last three points to seal it, 12-10, for the match. The third set took 73 minutes.

Although it was a heartbreaking loss, Eala bowed out with distinction, class and honor. Joint, whose mother is German and father Michael an Australian squash pro, was pushed to the limit. It could’ve gone either way. Joint refused to be disjointed and hung tough in the clutch, leaning on her Grand Slam experience to pull through. For Eala, her time will come sooner than later. From her performance in Miami, she showed maturity and remarkable improvements in upgrading her game. Here are 10 takeaways from Eastbourne.

First, her serves were stronger, steadier and deadlier with two aces and no double faults. Eala cleared 69 percent on her first serve, scoring 56 percent. Second, she was aggressive in pouncing on Joint’s second serve. Third, her conditioning was excellent as she stayed firm throughout the grueling three-setter. Fourth, she was precise in targeting both corners with booming groundstrokes. Fifth, her backhands and forehands were fueled with velocity, power and direction.

Sixth, she played with unflappable spirit, displaying her fighting heart in once tracking an overhead smash and keeping the ball in play from an out-of-court dig. Seventh, she kept composed, no tantrums, no racket throwing. Eighth, she created sharp angles from the baseline to keep Joint on the defensive and on the move. Ninth, she kept errors to a minimum and played with a high degree of efficiency. And lastly, Eala stayed humble as after the match, she applauded Joint, thanked the organizers, audience, her family and team and acknowledged the support of her country.