{"id":435620,"date":"2026-01-28T22:20:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T22:20:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/435620\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T22:20:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T22:20:07","slug":"bound-for-ph-womens-open-quarters-alex-eala-hopes-spirited-run-uplifts-tennis-in-the-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/435620\/","title":{"rendered":"Bound for PH Women’s Open quarters, Alex Eala hopes spirited run uplifts tennis in the country"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tThe only Filipino left in the Philippine Women’s Open, Eala once again delivers as she makes quick work of Japan’s Himeno Sakatsume to advance to the quarterfinals\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

MANILA, Philippines \u2013 More than winning, Alex Eala hopes her run in the Philippine Women\u2019s Open sparks lasting support for tennis among Filipinos.<\/p>\n

Already through to the quarterfinals, Eala aspires that her run in the country\u2019s first-ever staging of a WTA 125 event can help lift tennis to new heights at home. <\/p>\n

\u201cI hope they are just as motivated as me to watch tennis as I am to play tennis,\u201d Eala said of her supporters following her 6-4, 6-0 win against Japan\u2019s Himeno Sakatsume on Wednesday, January 28, at the packed Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019ve had a lot of really good matches. I\u2019m so happy with so many people that have turned out,\u201d she added. \u201cDespite the rain and the heat, you\u2019re still here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just like in Eala\u2019s opening-round win<\/a> over Alina Charaeva, Filipino fans filled the stands with oohs and aahs even as the home bet played through early jitters against Sakatsume.<\/p>\n

Eala trailed 1-2 and 3-4 against her Japanese foe before she shackled Sakatsume for the rest of the first set en route to the 6-4 victory.<\/p>\n

From there, Eala took over as she showcased her elite court coverage to prevent Sakatsume from building momentum and secure the win.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really happy even if the scores were a bit close,\u201d Eala said. \u201cI was in a lot of tough positions in this match, especially in the first set, but I\u2019m really happy with how I fought through it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there were definitely some points that felt like it was for her, but I was able to steal a couple, and that\u2019s what pushed me through.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eala redeemed herself against Sakatsume after a 6-0, 6-3 loss in their first meeting in the Japan Open Tennis Championships in 2023. <\/p>\n

The world No. 49 Eala, the only Filipino left in the tournament, takes on Camila Osorio of Columbia in the quarterfinals on Thursday, January 29, at the same venue.\u00a0\u2013 Rappler.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":435621,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[99,428],"class_list":["post-435620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=435620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435620\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/435621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=435620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=435620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=435620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}