Alexandra Eala roared past top-seeded Jessica Pegula to claim her maiden title in Monday’s rain-delayed final at the Mubadala DC Open in Washington.
The 20-year-old Eala became the first player from the Philippines to win an event on the WTA Tour, sweeping the last eight games to complete her 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 comeback.
“At the beginning of the week, there is no way I would have thought that I would be holding this trophy,” Eala said. “… These things kind of creep up on you, and I hold these moments really close to me.”
The unseeded Eala was leading 2-1 in the second set when the match was suspended on Sunday night. The second set was tied 4-4 before Pegula collapsed. Eala won 24 of the 32 points in the deciding set.
Eala also defeated No. 2 seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine and No. 3 Naomi Osaka of Japan during her history-making march to the trophy.
National Bank Open
Canada’s Bianca Andreescu made an early exit from her national championship for the third year in a row, falling 7-5, 6-4 to the Czech Republic’s Nikola Bartunkova in the first round at Toronto.
Andreescu captured the Canadian title in 2019, but last year she had to withdraw after a first-round win, and the prior campaign she was eliminated in the opening round.
Asked to explain the frustrating streak, she replied, “I wish I knew. I wish I had the answers. I was trying to dissect it. …
“It’s tough. Maybe it’s true, maybe it’s not, but I feel like I’m letting my team down, my family down sometimes, the supporters.”
Andreescu, who is ranked 174th in the world, led 5-2 in the first set but dropped the next five games, three of them on her serve. Bartunkova, rated 41st, got the lone service break of the second set to close the match.
“Even though I felt like I was pretty calm and collected throughout the match, I think subconsciously there are also a lot of thoughts that might pop in,” Andreescu said.
Bartunkova moves on to face 27th-seeded Clara Tauson of Denmark in the second round.
Only one of the other three Canadians in action on Monday registered a victory. Kayla Cross squeezed past Great Britain’s Katie Boulter 7-6 (3), 7-5.
Cross, who is ranked 172nd, took advantage of an 11-2 edge in aces. Boulter mixed in 12 double faults to Cross’ six.
Cross’ next opponent will be 28th-seeded Ann Li.
Poland’s Magda Linette rallied past Canada’s Carol Zhao 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, and Turkey’s Zeynep Sonmez eliminated Canada’s Rebecca Marino 7-5, 6-4.
Former U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens downed Argentina’s Solana Sierra 6-3, 6-4. Other U.S. winners were Caty McNally, Taylor Townsend, Alycia Parks, Kayla Day and McCartney Kessler, while Peyton Stearns fell 6-0, 7-5 to Romania’s Elena-Gabriela Ruse.
Mexico’s Renata Zarazua, Hungary’s Panna Udvardy and Anna Bondar, Croatia’s Antonia Ruzic, Russia’s Liudmila Samsonova and Alina Korneeva, Thailand’s Lanlana Tararudee, Poland’s Magdalena Frech, China’s Zhang Shuai, Slovakia’s Rebecca Sramkova and the Australian trio of Daria Kasatkina, Talia Gibson and Maya Joint won their opening-round matches.
–Field Level Media
