![\"Alex](\"https:\/\/sports.inquirer.net\/files\/2026\/06\/AP26158516573565-1200x785.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe Philippines\u2019 Alexandra Eala celebrates winning her women\u2019s singles final match against Nikola Bartunkova on day nine of the Lexus Birmingham Open Championships at Edgbaston Priory Club, Birmingham, England, Sunday June 7, 2026. (Mike Egerton\/PA via AP)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
MANILA, Philippines\u2013Alex Eala raised her first trophy of the season and lifted a curse that has haunted her for the past several years.<\/p>\n
Eala rallied past up-and-coming Czech Nikola Bartunkova, 5-7, 6-3, 7-5, to win the WTA 125 Birmingham Open on Sunday night (Manila time).<\/p>\n
The 21-year-old Eala won her second WTA crown after ruling the Guadalajara 125 Open in Mexico last September.<\/p>\n
READ: Alex Eala survives \u2018great test,\u2019 advances to Birmingham Open final<\/h4>\n
Eala\u2019s victory also marked her first against a Czech in 14 tries since turning pro in 2020.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m so honored to lift this trophy today. Lifting this trophy only makes me more motivated to maintain working,\u201d said Eala.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s considered one of those days where I hope we are able to each win. It\u2019s an incredible match.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 21-year-old Eala joined the likes of former Grand Slam champions and world number ones in Maria Sharapova, Ashleigh Barty, and Angelique Kerber to call just a few, who all won the Birmingham Classic in some unspecified time in the future of their celebrated careers.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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The Philippines\u2019 Alexandra Eala celebrates winning her women\u2019s singles final match against Nikola Bartunkova on day nine of the Lexus Birmingham Open Championships at Edgbaston Priory Club, Birmingham, England, Sunday June 7, 2026. (Mike Egerton\/PA via AP) MANILA, Philippines\u2013Alex Eala raised her first trophy of the season and lifted a curse that has haunted her […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":347241,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[338],"tags":[1568,34260,12603,3879,1569,1881,1574,1148,1546],"class_list":["post-347240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-alex","tag-birmingham","tag-curse","tag-czech","tag-eala","tag-ends","tag-open","tag-title","tag-wins"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347240"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347240\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":347243,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347240\/revisions\/347243"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/347241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}