By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Filipina tennis sensation Alex Eala and her French partner Estelle Cascino completed a majestic run in the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Spain 24A after clinching the doubles championship title on July 20, 2024, in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain.
The dynamic pairing carried their momentum from their dominant sweeping win in the semifinals and fended off the tough challenge from Diana Marcinkevica and Lia Karatancheva- 6.3, 2.6, 10.4- to reign supreme in another ITF grand final stage.
From the get-go, the Eala-Cascino tandem immediately proved to be too much for their opponents as their blitzing service-net volley game plan worked to perfection.
With the consistent powerful first service game they had in the opening frame, setting up their net kills were too easy and became their bread and butter heading into the second set.
However, Marcinkevica and Karatancheva regained their hitting rhythm in the following set, catching Eala & Cascino off guard with their heavy top-spin game.
Aside from their improved baseline shot selection, the opponents also lessened their unforced errors during the long baseline exchanges and waited for the perfect timing to put pressure on the net area.
Those adjustments then helped them level the playing field at 1-1, which forced a winner-take-all deciding third set.
In the third and final set, Eala and Cascino pulled off a momentum-changing scoring run that steered them to a comfortable stretch.
With their early smash winners and return aces, Eala and Cascino were able to kick off the third set with a commanding 8-1 start and was too hard for the challengers to catch up.
Eala’s victory in Vitoria-Gasteiz rewarded her with a third ITF doubles championship title and will help boost her career rankings in the Women’s Tennis Association’s (WTA) doubles category.
Before the grand finals began, Eala already reached a new career high in the WTA doubles, bagging the world no. 155 spot three days ago.
