MANILA – Alex Eala claimed her first Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) title on Sunday morning, overcoming Hungarian Panna Udvardy with a score of 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 in the Guadalajara 125 Open final held at the Panamerican Tennis Center in Zapopan, Mexico.
Ranked No. 75 in the world, Eala progressed through the tournament by defeating American Kayla Day in the semifinals, 6-2, 6-3. Earlier, she beat Italian Nicole Fossa Huergo, 7-6 (2), 6-2 in the quarterfinals and American Varvara Lepchenko, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (3), 6-3 in the second round. She began her campaign by winning against Dutch Arianne Hartono, 6-2, 6-2 in the first round.
Udvardy, currently ranked No. 134 globally, reached the final after victories over Mexican Jessica Hinojosa Gomez, Czech Nikola Bartnkova, British fourth seed Francesca Jones, and Russian Maria Kozyreva.
The 20-year-old Eala made her WTA Tour debut in 2021. In March 2025, she reached the semifinals of the Miami Open, where she faced Grand Slam champions including Latvian Jelena Ostapenko and American Madison Keys before losing to Jessica Pegula in a close match.
Eala also reached her first WTA final at the Lexus Eastbourne Open in June but was defeated by Australian Maya Joint. Last month at the US Open, she became the first Filipino to win a main draw match at a Grand Slam by beating world No. 14 Carla Tauson before falling to Spain’s Cristina Bucsa in the second round.
A graduate of the Rafael Nadal Academy, Eala won the US Open junior girls’ singles title in 2022.