Eala vows to come back stronger after narrowly missing Eastbourne Open title

MANILA, Philippines — As the saying goes, what does not kill you makes you stronger.

Filipina tennis sensation Alex Eala said that her tough three-set loss in the Lexus Eastbourne Open will make her stronger moving forward in her career.

Eala absorbed a hard-fought 4-6, 6-1, 6(10)-7 defeat to Australia's Maya Joint Saturday evening (Manila time) in England.

The 20-year-old Asian Games double bronze medalist held numerous championship points, even in tiebreak. But ultimately, it was Joint who reigned supreme in the youngest Eastbourne Open finals since 1981.

In an Instagram post on Sunday morning, Eala described the loss as “one of the toughest” in her career.

“But I firmly believe that it’s these moments that make you stronger and shape your character,” she said.

Prior facing Joint in the final, Eala, who reached a career-high of 56 in the live rankings, went through Zeynep Sonmez and Hailey Baptiste in the qualifiers.

She then barged into the finals after defeating Lucia Bronzetti, Jelena Ostapenko, Dayana Yastremska and Varvara Gracheva in consecutive rounds.

“Well, first of all, I want to congratulate Maya for a great match and a great tournament. Yeah, I think you did really well, and I think, you know, if I was to lose to anyone this week, it would definitely be you. So, congratulations,” an emotional Eala said at a speech after the match.

But now, Eaka will be setting her sights on Wimbledon, which will kick off next week.

She, however, will have a baptism of fire in her Wimbledon debut as she is set to face defending champion Barbora Krejcikova.

“Though I’m so happy with the positive week, it’s full speed ahead to Wimbledon,” Eala’s Instagram post read.

“I have a date with center court.”

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