The Pinay athlete has made advancements to the next round of the competition.
On Monday, December 15, Filipina tennis champ Alex Eala returned to the hard court by making her first appearance in the ongoing 33rd Southeast Asian Games in Thailand.
The top seed in the singles’ tournament, the 20-year-old went head-on against Malasyia’s Shihomi Li Xuan Hong.
Despite facing early resistance from her opponent, the Filipina contender was able to close out the match with a decisive win, 6-3, 6-1, in less than 1 hour and 40 minutes.
With this development, Alex is now assured of at least a bronze medal as she advances to the semifinals round, where she will be in contention with Thai player Naklo Thasasporn.
Following that, Eala teamed up with Francis Casey “Niño” Alcantara for the mixed doubles competition, where they battled it out against Daniel Abadia and Wei Choo from Singapore.
Similar to the result of her other match, Eala and Alcantara were able to fend off their rivals, 6-4, 6-3, and will be heading to the semifinals round.
Like his partner, Niño has also bagged a bronze medal in the men’s team event with fellow netters Alberto Lim Jr., Arthur Craig Pantino, Eric Craig Jr., and Ruben Gonzales.