IN her first finals appearance of the season, Alex Eala found her footing on grass and turned her debut tournament on the surface this year into her second WTA125 title.
The Filipina world No. 37 and tournament top seed powered through a grueling three-setter against Czech No. 69 Nikola Bartunkova, 5-7, 6-3, 7-5, at the 2026 Lexus Birmingham Open on Sunday night, Manila time.
READ Alex Eala refuses to get carried away after first WTA 125 title on grass
On her way to the championship, Eala took down Priscilla Hon, Alina Charaeva, Mananchaya Sawangkaew, and Rebeka Masarova in the first four rounds for her second WTA125 crown after her breakthrough win at the WTA 125 Guadalajara in September 2025.
After losing three straight games to drop the opener from 5-4 up, the Filipina answered with a dominant second-set response before weathering another late fightback in the decider, where Bartunkova erased a 4-2 deficit to tie the set at 5-all.
With momentum hanging by a thread, Eala slammed the door shut by taking the final two games to seal the title in the match that lasted two hours and 37 minutes.
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