Eala repeats SEAG triumph over Sawangkaew, reaches Birmingham Open semis

Alex Eala once again got the better of Thailand’s Mananchaya Sawangkaew, replicating a familiar script from their Southeast Asian Games showdown to advance to the semifinals of the WTA 125 Birmingham Open.

Fresh off dashing the Philippines’ 26-year gold medal drought in the SEA Games 2025 almost a year ago, Eala stormed past Sawangkaew anew, 6–3, 6–2, in the United Kingdom, June 5.

Following a neck-and-neck salvo in the opening game, featuring nine deuces where Eala dug deep to preserve her serve, the Filipina then grabbed two break points to seize a 5–1 cushion.

Despite Sawangkaew’s late resurgence, even consolidating a break point in the eighth game at 5–3, Eala snared the set point in fashion after floating a perfectly weighted lob down the latter’s baseline.

Seeming to find her traction in the duel, the Thai netter briefly held a slim 1–2 lead to open the second set after comfortably holding serve and stepping in on approach shots.

But that was when Eala lived up to her profile as the tournament’s top seed.

The 21-year-old Filipina wrote the narrative in her favor as she turned the remainder of the frame into a one-sided affair, stringing five consecutive games built after breaking the Thai’s serve twice with precise forehand returns that translated into forced errors.

The world No. 37 Eala is now set to square off against Switzerland’s WTA No. 132 Rebeka Masarova on June 6.