THE wait for Alex Eala's first WTA Tour-level title just keeps getting longer.
Eala's highly anticipated championship match against world No. 3 Jessica Pegula at the WTA 500 Mubadala DC Open was hit by bad Washington weather, with rain delays stretching the final for more than eight hours and counting.
READ Eala out to continue magic vs Top 10 foes, claim first-ever WTA Tour title
The start of the Eala's first final appearance in the WTA Tour was pushed back more than three hours due to rain and suspended again early in the second set when rain came down again, adding another layer of drama to the match.
Now Eala and Pegula will attempt to return to the court later in the day to hopefully finish the match, giving the 21-year old Filipina time to get her act together after losing a set for just the second time in the tournament.
The stop-start final adds another hurdle to Eala's bid for the first WTA Tour-level title of her career in a breakthrough run in Washington.
The Filipina earned a shot at the title after taking down former world No. 1 Naomi Osaka in straight sets in the semifinal, a day after beating world No. 10 Elina Svitolina in the quarters, defending champion Leylah Fernandez in the second round, and Qinwen Zheng in her opener.
Pegula, though, is proving to be a tough customer as expected for the world No. 28, who also lost to the American in the semifinals of the Miami Open last year.
The match was originally scheduled to begin at 12 a.m. Sunday (Manila time), only for persistent rain to push the opening serve all the way to around 3:30 a.m.
And even when Eala and Pegula finally got on court, they didn't get much time to settle in. Pegula took the opening set, 6-4, before Eala grabbed an early 2-1 advantage in the second.
Then came the rain again.
After just 57 minutes of actual tennis, play was suspended at around 4:30 a.m., sending both players back to another waiting game.
As of 8 a.m., the match had yet to resume, meaning a final initially set for midnight had already spilled hours into the morning.
At around 6:30 a.m., veteran reporter Dyan Castillejo shared in a tweet the rain is slowing down in the venue and people in the venue were still waiting and praying for the match to resume.
Workers were also working feverishly to dry the center court of the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center, only for rain to come down again.
DC Open announced on X that it will attempt to resume games at around 7 a.m.(7 p.m. US time). But at posting time, the game remains suspended.
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