Alex Eala outlasts Udvardy to rule Guadalajara 125 Open

September 8 ------ Alex Eala overcame a sluggish start and showed great resolve in clutch moments en route to securing her first-ever WTA 125 championship. The Filipina tennis star recovered from a brutal opening set and outlasted Hungary's Panna Udvardy, 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, to rule the 2025 Guadalajara 125 Open.

It's another historic feat for the 20-year-old, who has now claimed a trophy in a WTA-level tournament for the first time in her career. Eala previously reached the final of the Eastbourne Open, a WTA 250 tournament, in June 2025 where she lost in a three-set heartbreaker to Maya Joint. This time around there was only elation for the Filipina, who worked her way back from an error-prone first set and displayed her poise in the second set and the decider.

The 26-year-old Udvardy, who had beaten Eala in April in Portugal, appeared to have seized the momentum in the second set after forcing a 5-5 deadlock, but the Filipina showed her craftiness in the 11th game wherein she broke the Hungarian's serve to again take the lead, 6-5. Eala then recovered from a 0-40 hole in the 12th game, unleashing a crosscourt volley to force a deuce. An exchange of errors led to another deuce but it was the Hungarian who blinked in the endgame, allowing Eala to send the match to a decider.

Eala surged to a 2-0 lead in the third set before Udvardy held her serve to get on board, though the Hungarian then called for a medical timeout that lasted nearly ten minutes. Upon the resumption of the match, Eala took care of business, holding serve for a 3-1 advantage. Udvardy showed her own grittiness, saving two break points in the seventh game to trim the deficit, 4-3. But Eala roared back with a love game to inch ever closer to victory, and the Filipina made sure that there would be no let-up as she broke Udvardy to clinch the historic result after two hours and 30 minutes.

The win over Udvardy caps a superb week for Eala. Seeded second in Guadalajara, she crushed Arianne Hartono (6-2, 6-2) in the round-of-32 and outlasted Varvara Lepchenko (6-7, 7-6, 6-3) in the round-of-16. She swept Nicole Fossa Huergo (7-6, 6-2) in the quarterfinals and Kayla Day (6-2, 6-3) in the semis to set up the showdown against the Hungarian. The victory is just the latest highlight in what has been a breakout campaign for Eala.

The Filipina memorably reached the semifinals of the Miami Open in March, beating a slew of Grand Slam champions along the way including former world No. 1 Iga Swiatek. That run propelled her to the WTA's top 100, paving the way for her debut in the main draw of the French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open. It was in the year's final Grand Slam that Eala wrote more history, beating Danish 14th seed Clara Tauson to become the first Filipino to win a singles match at that level.

Source: news.abs-cbn.com