{"id":689115,"date":"2026-06-07T03:38:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T03:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/689115\/"},"modified":"2026-06-07T03:38:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T03:38:09","slug":"alex-eala-survives-great-test-advances-to-birmingham-open-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/689115\/","title":{"rendered":"Alex Eala survives &#8216;great test,&#8217; advances to Birmingham Open final"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-680125\" class=\"size-large wp-image-680125\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=\" http:=\"\" alt=\"Alex Eala vs Rebeka Masarova Birmingham Open semifinal\" width=\"1200\" height=\"815\" data-lazy- data-lazy- data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/AP26157471286851-1200x815.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-680125\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Philippines\u2019 Alexandra Eala in action during her semifinal match against Rebeka Masarova, on day eight of the Lexus Birmingham Open Championships at Edgbaston Priory Club, Birmingham, England, Saturday June 6, 2026. (Martin Rickett\/PA via AP)<\/p>\n<p>MANILA, Philippines\u2013Alex Eala\u2019s run continued in the Birmingham Open just past midnight on Sunday (Manila time).<\/p>\n<p>This time, though, it took her a while to get the win.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tArticle continues after this advertisement<\/p>\n<p>After easing her way into the semifinal, Eala survived her first real test in the WTA 125 tournament, overcoming Swiss Rebeka Masarova, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, to reach her first final of the season.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sports.inquirer.net\/679955\/alex-eala-beats-sawangkaew-advances-to-birmingham-open-semis\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">READ: Alex Eala beats Sawangkaew, advances to Birmingham Open semis<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Eala came into her match against Masarova having won her first three matches in sweeping fashion.<\/p>\n<p>The top-seeded Eala again looked well on her way to another easy win after a dominant opening set, but Masarova regrouped and let the Filipino rising star know it\u2019s going to be a long night.<\/p>\n<p>Masarova\u2019s fightback, coupled with several rain delays that led to a pair of suspensions lasting for hours, made it an excruciatingly long match and Eala could only breathe a big sigh of relief.<\/p>\n<p>Article continues after this advertisement\t\t  <\/p>\n<p>\u201cReally happy with the win today. It was such a great experience,\u201d she said during the post-match interview.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was such a tough battle today. You\u2019ll never know what\u2019s gonna happen. Rebeka played really well, and she put me in tough spots,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sports.inquirer.net\/679716\/alex-eala-moves-into-queens-club-championships-main-draw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">READ: Alex Eala gets main draw entry to Queen\u2019s Club Championships<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Eala was on the brink of victory, up 5-2, when the rain poured and suspended the match for a second time.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tArticle continues after this advertisement<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI tried to relax. You never fully let go when it\u2019s a rain delay,\u201d said Eala during the extended breaks.<\/p>\n<p>She stayed calm even at the resumption and with Masarova mounting one last rally after taking the eighth game of the deciding set. Down 15-30 in the ninth, Eala forced a deuce and led Masarova to commit back-to-back errors to book her spot in the title round.<\/p>\n<p>It only gets harder for the 21-year-old Eala in the final against Czech Nikola Bartunkova, who also served as her doubles partner in Birmingham. <a href=\"https:\/\/sports.inquirer.net\/679210\/alex-eala-czech-partner-bow-out-in-birmingham-open-doubles\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">They bowed out early<\/a> after losing their first match last Monday. Eala is 0-13 against Czechs since turning pro in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>                          Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.<\/p>\n<p>                          Your subscription has been successful.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cReaching the final is a physical feat. I\u2019m feeling good. I think today was a great test and I\u2019ll be ready for tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Philippines\u2019 Alexandra Eala in action during her semifinal match against Rebeka Masarova, on day eight of the Lexus&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":689116,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[99,428],"class_list":["post-689115","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\/689115","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=689115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689115\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/689116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=689115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=689115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=689115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}