Eala cool, calm in SEAG return

MANILA, Philippines — Alex Eala hardly had a problem in the opening matches of her SEA Games return.

Eala lived up to her lofty billing as the highest-ranked player, cruising to a 6-3, 6-1 sweep of Malaysian Shihomi Li Xuan Leong and into the semifinals of women’s singles in the 33rd Southeast Asian Games yesterday at the National Tennis Development Center in Nonthaburi, Thailand.

She later made it a twin-win as she teamed up with Francis Alcantara in a 6-4, 6-3 drubbing of Daniel Abadia and Wei Choo of Singapore in mixed doubles.

A jittery Eala got off to a slow start versus Leong, staring at a 1-3 deficit before getting into the groove then zooming to the straight-sets win.

“I’m very happy with the first round. It presented challenges and I’m happy with how (it went). Masaya ako sa crowd, maraming nag-support, masaya ako sa suporta,” said the 20-year-old sensation.

Up next for the No.1 seed Eala is Thailand’s Naklo Thasasporn in a showdown for a seat in the finale, where fellow rising star Janice Tjen of Indonesia is projected to wait. Tjen, 23, beat Eala in the quarterfinals of the 2025 WTA250 Sao Paulo Open in Brazil, 6-4, 6-1.

The home bet also made short work of her quarterfinal opponent in Singaporean Sue Yan Tan, 6-1, 6-3.

Eala barged straight into the quarterfinals with a first-round bye and so did Tjen as the top two seeds in the tournament.