Eala beats Pegula at DC Open to claim first WTA Tour title

Rising Filipina star Alexandra Eala came from a set down against Jessica Pegula to claim the first WTA Tour singles title of her career at the DC Open.

Eala had trailed by a set when the match was suspended because of heavy rain on Sunday, but the 21-year-old turned the contest round on Monday to claim a 4-6 6-4 6-0 victory.

The victory made Eala the first Filipina to win a singles title on the tour, completing the same career-defining breakthrough that the Washington tournament once gave Pegula when she claimed her first WTA Tour title in 2019.

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Eala's popularity soared during the grass-court season as she beat some of the sport's biggest names on runs to the semi-finals in Berlin and last 16 at Wimbledon.

She has swiftly become a huge star in the Philippines, and the nation's flags were dotted throughout the Stadium Court in Washington as chants for Eala routinely outweighed those for Pegula.

It capped a week in which the rising star transformed the atmosphere around the tournament while reaching her first WTA Tour final in her debut at the hard-court tune-up for the US Open.

The two traded breaks midway through the opening set, with Pegula breaking again at 4-4 and serving out the set at love. The players held through the opening three games of the second set before heavy rain suspended play on Sunday afternoon, with Eala up 2-1.

When they returned on Monday, the momentum belonged to Eala. She stormed back to claim the second set, then swept through the third.

She won each game of the final set of the match to complete the comeback in an hour and 47 minutes of court time.

In the process, she defeated all three of the tournament's top seeds and turned the biggest week of her career into a historic first title.

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