It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.
— Saint Augustine
We recall the ‘Phenom’, Filipino bowler Rafael ‘Paeng’ Villareal Nepomuceno, who gave consistent honor to our country in the international stage as a six time World bowling champion.
A World Bowling Hall of Famer, I recall having the prestige of meeting Paeng once at the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) forum and despite his prodigious record in Philippine sports, he had remained remarkably humble—as if what he had achieved for us Filipinos as simply “all in a day’s work.”
And here we have another soon-to-be phenom, this time in tennis—equally humble Filipina sensation Alexandra ‘Alex’ Eala—just 20 but currently the best netter the country has produced and the first Filipino tennis player to win a Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Open title.
Just now, Eala has extended her winning run in China after overpowering Japan’s Mei Yamaguchi, 6-0, 6-3, to secure a spot in the Jingshan Open quarterfinals.
Originally scheduled at outdoor hardcourt of the Jingshan International Tennis Tournament Center in Hubei, the match was moved indoors due to the rains. As fortune would see it, the shift played favorably into Eala’s strengths.
With the faster indoor conditions suiting her aggressive game, the No. 1 seed wasted no time asserting control to a commanding 5-0 lead en route to a flawless opening set, winning seven straight games stretching into the second set.
Her opponent, world’s No. 268 Yamaguchi tried to rally and got on the board in the second set, but Eala’s solid baseline play kept her ahead.
With back-to-back wins over world’s No. 212 Aliona Falei of Belarus, Yamaguchi and Jia-Jing Lu of China, Eala is now through to the semifinals, where she will meet today, September 27, the tourneys third seed Lulu Sun of New Zealand.
The 24-year-old Sun is 88 spots behind No. 58 Eala in the world rankings. However, the Kiwi netter has a familiarity with Eala’s match as they are both southpaw netters and has faced each other in the 2024 Wimbledon Championships where Sun defeated Eala, 7-6 (3), 7-5 in the qualifying round.
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