Despite that, she still has a lot of achievements this year.
Over the weekend, Filipina tennis sensation Alex Eala competed in a pair of exhibition matches at the 2025 MGM Macau Tennis Masters event.
On Saturday, December 27, he teamed up with Jerry Shang in the mixed doubles event against Yibing Wu and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
The close fight, however, ended with the all-male duo taking the win, 7-5, 7(7)-6(1).
The following day, December 28, Eala returned to the hard court for the women’s singles event opposite Russian player Mirra Andreeva, whom she was supposed to go against with in the mixed doubles. However, Andreeva had to beg off due to her sickness that day.
But the World No. 9 was too much for the World. No. 53 from the Philippines, who fell to her anew during their match, 6-4, 6-2.
This event happens just a week after Alex made history after clinching the Philippines’ first gold medal in the women’s singles event at the 2025 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, which was held in Thailand.
She broke the country’s 26-year drought, as the last time that a representative won gold was in 1999 by Maricris Fernandez-Gentz.
These events also close the monumental year for Eala, who made strides in the sport this year. She was the first Filipina athlete to make it to the Miami Open finals, which later led her to the Eastbourne Open semifinals and the main draw of the Wimbledon.
Later on, she would achieve her first WTA 125 trophy after winning the Guadalajara Open in Mexico in September.
