By REYNALD MAGALLON
BANGKOK – Just a few hours after the Philippine women’s football team made history, Filipina ace Alex Eala rewrote one for herself in tennis.
The WTA ranked No. 53 tennis player lived to the lofty billing and made quick work of Thai opponent Mananchaya Samangkaew, 6-1, 6-2 to end a 26-year gold medal drought in the women’s singles tennis gold at the National Tennis Development Center in Nothonburi on Thursday, Dec. 18.
Displaying the ever lethal forehand, Eala’s hits proved too strong for her Thai counterpart as she dictated the tempo for most of the match
Save for a sloppy first game that saw her needing to recover from a 0-40 start, Eala was nearly flawless in the opening set, taking the last four games after a slim 2-1 lead.
Sawangkaew, who once defeated Eala in a WTA100 event in the past, finally showed some resistance in the second set and tied Eala, 2-2.
But that hardly rattled the Filipina as she coolly took care of business under the sweltering heat, clinching the next four games to win the precious medal, joining Filipina legends — Pia Tamayo (1981 Manila) and Maricris Fernandez (1999 Brunei).
Eala shared a warm hug with her parents after the contest. It was also a full circle moment for the Eala family as Alex’s mom once won a bronze medal in the 100-meter backstroke as part of the Philippine team in the 1985 SEA Games also in Thailand.
“It’s so special. I’ve said many times before, yung pinoy, we’re so family-oriented. I think that’s a part of our culture and SEA Games is something, I think, it’s very different than the tour because it’s very personal to us, personal to the Southeast Asian countries,” said Eala.
“And it’s special in that way.It’s unique and it doesn’t happen every time. Kaya siya gano’ng ka-importante at kakahalaga sa aming country. Of course, also, my mom was medalist also,” she added.
