Eala enters Eastbourne Open final

Alex Eala took out Varvara Gracheva of France, 7-5, 2-6, 6-3, on Friday to book a ticket in the Eastbourne Open final at the Devonshire Park Lawn Tennis Club in the United Kingdom.

It took the 20-year-old Eala two hours and 22 minutes to get rid of Gracheva as she reached her first final in a grass court tournament as a pro.

Eala admitted she had to dig deep against Gracheva, No. 111 in the Women’s Tennis Association rankings, to come out on top.

“Super happy. There were tough moments where she was playing well,” an emotional Eala said moments after her victory.

“It was a challenge for both of us, both physically and mentally. We both came from the qualifiers and had some moments where she was dominating. The fact that I was able to stay there and wait for my opportunity was a big achievement for me today.”

Eala will face the winner of the other semis pairing involving Maya Joint of Australia and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia.

The Rafael Nadal Academy graduate is using the Eastbourne Open to prepare for the Wimbledon Championships on Monday at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in London.

By making the Eastbourne Open final, Eala is guaranteed a purse of $30,830. If she wins it all, Eala will pocket $51,330.

Eala will need all the advantage she can get as she will be facing defending champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic in the first round in her Wimbledon debut.