Sustaining the glory

An Olympic medalist from Spain will be at the opposite end of the court when Alex Eala marches to the Round of 64 of the women’s singles event of the US Open past midnight on Thursday (Manila time) in Flushing Meadows in New York.

Cristina Bucsa, the bronze medalist in the doubles event of the Paris Olympics, coasted to a 6-2, 6-1 win over qualifier Claire Liu of the United States to gain the right to face the 20-year-old Filipina sensation in the second round of this prestigious Grand Slam event.

Bucsa will be marching to warzone with a lot to prove.

The 27-year-old Moldovan-born netter has been a consistent performer in the singles event of various Grand Slam tournaments, reaching as far as the third round of the Australian Open in 2023 and the Wimbledon Championship this year.

In the doubles event, Bucsa is a force to be reckoned with as she pocketed seven Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) titles and even reached the quarterfinals of the French Open last year with Alexandra Panova of Russia as partner. But more than that, she won a bronze medal for Spain in the women’s doubles event of the Paris Olympics with Sara Sorribes Tormo as teammate.

The daughter of Olympian Ion Bucsa enjoyed her highest ranking of No. 56 in January last year before sliding to No. 95 after suffering a string of setbacks in singles events, giving her extra motivation to beat the red-hot Eala and revive her sputtering professional career.

Actually, their second-round battle will not be the first for Eala and Bucsa.

Four years ago, the older, more seasoned Bucsa rallied to beat the then 15-year-old Eala in a W25 event in the French city of Grenoble, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6.

But things have changed now as Eala had beaten some of the biggest names in professional tennis like former Grand Slam champions Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, Madison Keys of the United States and world No. 2 Iga Swiatek of Poland in the Miami Open that sparked her rise to No. 75 in the world.

On Monday, she formally added world No. 14 Clara Tauson to her growing list of victims after booking a 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (13-11) win in the opening round, marking the first time for a Filipino to win a Grand Slam match since the Open era started in 1968.

The large Filipino community in New York celebrated her feat while President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. commended Eala for making the country proud.

Eala, however, stressed that the job is far from done as she aims to go all the way to realize her dream of becoming a Grand Slam champion.

“They weren’t kidding when they said this was the city of dreams,” said Eala, who credits her first-round victory to the all-out support of Filipinos who trooped to the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York just to witness her make a historic run for glory.

“All sights set on the second round.”

Eala’s fitness mentor at the Rafael Nadal Academy Lluc Bauza said Eala will take a breather to recover. She, however, will still have some light workout in preparation for her duel against Bucsa that is again expected to match, if not surpass, the drama and level of intensity of her grueling battle with Tauson that lasted for two hours and 36 minutes.

“Tomorrow, yes, she will practice,” said Bauza after her ward formally survived one of the longest — and pressure-packed — matches in her young professional career.

“She is used to matches like this. Alex is prepared, and she has a good fitness team behind her.”