Alex Eala won the first WTA title of her career Monday, beating top-seeded Jessica Pegula 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 in a Mubadala DC Open final that spilled over from Sunday because of weather.
The match was suspended mid-contest Sunday, with Pegula having taken the first set 6-4 and Eala leading 2-1 in the second when rain and lightning forced players off Stadium Court. It resumed Monday, and both players described the whole ordeal as playing out like two separate matches.
"Definitely felt like two different matches. I think it kind of was," Pegula said. "On my side, I just felt like I couldn't find my rhythm. I think I was playing much better yesterday, for whatever reason, than I was today, and I think she was playing better today than she was yesterday."
Eala credited the pause with giving her a chance to reset. "I was able to take my time and kind of take those learnings from the first half of the match and do my best to apply them in the second, and I think it worked pretty well."
It's Eala's first tour-level title and her first at the WTA 500 level, capping a run in which she beat Olympic gold medalist Zheng Qinwen in the first round, defending champion Leylah Fernandez in the fourth round, No. 2 seed Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinals, No. 3 seed and former world No. 1 Naomi Osaka in the semifinals, and now top-seeded Pegula in the final — five wins over quality opposition in one week.
"It was a very steep hill," Eala said. "Coming into the tournament, I knew that the competition was super strong and my draw was quite tough. Every match was just a different set of obstacles."
Eala became the first Filipina to win a WTA Tour event.
The turning point in the final was as clean as it gets: trailing 4-3 in the second set Monday, Eala won the match's final nine games in a row, closing it out with a third set in which Pegula won just eight total points. Pegula actually out-aced Eala 4-0 and committed only one double fault to Eala's three, but the unforced errors piled up for the American as the match slipped away in that final stretch.
The Monday final still drew a heavy crowd, powered by Eala's fan base back home in the Philippines. "I was so pleasantly surprised with the turnout today and super grateful for the fans who waited the whole day yesterday. They really stuck it out," Eala said, adding that fans watching from the Philippines had to stay up into the early morning hours for the finish.
Pegula, despite losing, still praised the atmosphere and Eala's standing in the sport. "It's so refreshing and nice to see how well she's handled all of the kind of fandom and stardom that's come with her being from the Philippines and how they've really embraced her," Pegula said. "It's crazy how she deals with it every single week, which just shows her maturity as a player and as a person. I have a lot of respect for her, and I like her a lot."
Eala said the win hadn't fully sunk in. "At the beginning of the week, there is no way I would have thought that I would be holding this trophy," she said.
Eala's next match comes Wednesday in the round of 64 at the National Bank Open in Toronto, against the winner of Alycia Parks and Victoria Jiménez Kasintseva.
Fritz Outlasts Jodar for Men's Title
Taylor Fritz beat Rafael Jodar 7-6, 6-4 to win the men's title, closing out a tournament that also saw him save a match point in his quarterfinal against Michelsen before working through a rain-hit weekend that pushed the final to Monday alongside the women's draw.
Fritz called a medical timeout by Jodar before the final game "whatever," declining to read anything into its timing. "In the end, it's easy to complain about the coincidental timing of that. But maybe he is injured," Fritz said. "I just told myself it is what it is. It doesn't matter... Just stay composed and serve it out." He said the pause, intentional or not, ended up helping him regroup before closing out the title.
It's Fritz's first title in roughly four years, though he pushed back on the idea that it marks a return to his earlier peak. "I don't feel like it's a return to where I was before or something," he said. "The margins are so small. I don't really think of it that way, but yeah, it's great to cross the finish line finally." He said the result gives him a lift heading into the rest of the hard-court season after two runner-up finishes at the 500 level this year.
Both Pegula and Fritz turn around quickly playing in Toronto and Montreal, as soon as Wednesday.