Alex Eala earned her second women’s doubles title in her professional career as she and hometown bet Estelle Cascino scored a 7-5, 7-6 victory over the top-seeded pair of French netter Jessika Ponchet and Maia Lumsden of Great Britain in the W75 Croissy-Beaubourg at the Comité Départemental de Tennis de Seine & Marne in France last Saturday.
Eala and Cascino played for one hour and 31 minutes before finally getting the much-needed win in the tournament that offers a prize of $60,000.
The win became more special as it coincided with Eala’s mother and former Southeast Asian Games bronze medalist Rizza’s 54th birthday.
“Happy Birthday to the woman I aspire to be. Grateful for your love, wisdom, and endless inspiration,” Eala said in a social media post.
This is the Rafael Nadal Academy graduate’s second title for 2024 after winning the W50 Pune in India last January after teaming up with Darja Semenistaja of Latvia.
It is also her sixth championship overall since turning pro in 2020.
But getting to the top with Cascino had a difficult start as they had to carve out a hard-fought 5-7, 6-2, 10-6 win over Celine Naef of Switzerland and Prarthana Thombare of India in the Round of 16.
The Filipino-French duo then posted an upset over British netter Emily Appleton and Isabelle Haverland of the Netherlands, 6-4, 6-0, in the quarterfinal in just 57 minutes.
Eala and Cascino continued to sweep the opposition, beating Kira Pavlova of Russia and Marie Weckerle of Luxembourg, 6-3, 6-3, in the semifinal to set up a championship match with Ponchet and Lumsden.
This victory compensates her exit in the women’s singles of the same tournament after she lost to Mona Barthel of Germany, 6-4, 4-6, 1-6.
Currently at No. 305 in the Women’s Tennis Association rankings for the doubles division, Eala is expected to get a boost after previously getting a career-high No. 278 last 4 March.
