Fifteen-year-old Alexandra Eala stole the show on the ITF World Tennis Tour on Sunday after winning her first professional singles title in just her sixth women’s event.

The Filipino defeated Spaniard Yvonne Cavalle-Reimers - 13 years her senior - 5-7 6-1 6-2 in the final at W15 Manacor, held at the Rafael Nadal Academy.

World No. 2 Nadal congratulated Eala, who has trained at his eponymous academy since early 2018, in a message posted on facebook, saying: “Congratulations @alex.eala for this important moment in your career. We are all very happy for you! Keep up the good work and attitude! #vamos”

Eala, the current junior world No. 3, has become something of a trend-setter for the Philippines. She reached the semi-finals of the girls’ singles event at Roland Garros last year, falling to eventual champion Elsa Jacquemot, and won the girls doubles at the 2020 Australian Open alongside Indonesian Priska Madelyn Nugroho. She was the first Filipino to win a Junior Grand Slam title since Francis Casey Alcantara won the boys' doubles at the 2009 Australian Open.

In 2019, she was also part of the first Filipino team to qualify for the World Junior Tennis Finals since 1993, ultimately helping them to a quarter-final finish.

Keen to make early in-roads on the professional tour, she reached the second round on her professional debut at W15 Monastir in March and followed with second-round runs at two further W15 events in Spain in November, before her big breakthrough this week. 

Meanwhile, former junior world No. 1 Clara Tauson also continued her upward trajectory on the ITF World Tennis Tour last week, winning her eighth ITF title at W25 Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates.

The 18-year-old Dane defeated top seed Viktorija Golubic 6-0 4-6 6-3 to collect her seventh title on a hard court, despite favouring clay.

Tauson, whose last title-win came at W15 Oeiras on the resumption of the tour following its five-month hiatus last August, was contesting her first ITF tournament of 2021, having fallen in the first round on her attempt to qualify for the Australian Open in Dubai earlier this month.

Elsewhere, Sinja Kraus won her second professional title – and first since September 2018 – at W15 Cairo. The 18-year-old Austrian defeated Elina Avanesyan 6-2 6-3 in the title decider.

Teenagers Sapfo Sakellaridi, of Greece, and Julia Avdeeva, of Russia, will contest the W15 Antalya final on Monday after the tournament was delayed a day. The winner will collect their first professional singles title.