Alex Eala turned a rain-delayed final into a breakthrough moment, defeating world No. 3 Jessica Pegula in a dramatic comeback to win her first Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Tour championship at the Mubadala DC Open in Washington, D.C.
The 21-year-old Filipina rallied from a set down to beat Pegula, 4-6, 6-4, 6-0, early Tuesday (Philippine time) at the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center, becoming the first Southeast Asian player to win a WTA 500 tournament.
The championship match stretched over two days after stormy weather in the U.S. capital forced organizers to suspend play.
Eala dropped the opening set but held a 2-1 lead in the second before the rain interruption.
When play resumed, both players held serve until Eala broke Pegula late in the second set to level the match and force a deciding third set.
The final set belonged entirely to the Filipina as she broke Pegula’s serve twice to build a commanding 5-0 advantage.
Although Pegula saved one championship point, Eala sealed the victory after the American sent a forehand wide, completing a dominant 6-0 finish.
The title marked Eala’s first WTA Tour crown and third professional singles title overall, adding to her two WTA 125 championships.
“I think I warmed up a thousand times. It was difficult, I think … at the same time, it’s happened to me a lot; rain delays a lot of times in my life. I think this is just kind of another one of those, although it was a lot higher stakes. But I think I was able to take my time and take those learnings from the first half of the match and do my best to apply them in the second, and I think it worked pretty well,” Eala said in a news release posted on the WTA website.
Eala’s title run included victories over a string of higher-ranked opponents. She defeated second seed Elina Svitolina, third seed Naomi Osaka, defending champion and seventh seed Leylah Fernandez, and 2024 Paris Olympic gold medalist Zheng Qinwen before overcoming Pegula in the final.
“At the beginning of the week, there is no way I would have thought that I would be holding this trophy … These things kind of creep up on you, and I hold these moments really close to me,” Eala said.
The victory is expected to propel Eala into the WTA Top 20 for the first time in her career.
Currently ranked No. 29 in the world, Eala also secured a first-round bye in the upcoming WTA 1000 Canadian Open.
The Filipina, who won the singles gold medal at the 2025 Southeast Asian Games in Thailand, is scheduled to begin her Canadian Open campaign on Aug. 5 in Ontario.
Photo courtesy of AFP
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