SEA Games: Alex Eala clinches 2025 SEA Games gold for women's singles tennis

Alexandra Eala of the Philippines captured the women's singles tennis gold medal at the 2025 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Mananchaya Sawangkaew of host country Thailand on Thursday.

Eala, 20, is currently ranked World No. 53 while Sawangkaew is World No. 240, according to Olympics.com

Eala is the first Filipina tennis player to win a SEA Games gold medal in women's singles in 26 years. Olympics.com said the last time that the Philippines clinched that title was in 1999, with a win by Maricris Fernandez in Brunei.

Philippines' Pia Tamayo also won the gold medal for women's singles tennis in 1981 when the SEA Games were held in Manila.

Before Eala's final match in the 2025 SEA Games, she beat another another Thai player, Naklo Thasaporn, in the semi-final round with a 6-1, 6-4 win.

Meanwhile, Eala and her mixed doubles partner Francis Casey "Niño" Alcantara won the 2025 SEA Games bronze on Wednesday.

Throughout Eala's career, she received constant support from her parents Mike Eala and Rizza Maniego-Eala, who was a SEA Games medal winner herself. According to Tennis365, Eala's mother Rizza won a bronze medal in the 100-meter backstroke in the 1985 SEA Games, also held in Thailand.

LOVES RICE, ICE CREAM, AND MILK TEA

Eala's bio on the Women's Tennis Association said the 5'9" tennis standout has so far won 40 games and lost 26. Her prize money stands at $977,777.

Coached by Joan Bosch, Eala first started playing tennis at age four and later trained at the Rafael Nadal Academy in Mallorca, Spain.

WTA said Eala loves rice, ice cream, and milk tea and enjoys listening to Spanish music and  watching comedy and horror movies.

-Veronica Pulumbarit/Paraluman News