What Alex Eala had to say about her ‘surreal’ experience as she wins gold
Alex Eala has ended the Philippines’ gold medal drought in women’s tennis at the SEA Games as she finished the 2025 event with top spot on the podium of the women’s singles.
Fresh from a magical 2025 WTA Tour season that saw her make history by becoming the first Filipina to win a singles match at Grand Slam after she reached the second round of the US Open, Eala starred for her country at the Southeast Asian Games in Thailand.
The 20-year-old was the Philippines’ flag-bearer at the opening ceremony and she finished her campaign with three medals in the tennis events as she won gold in the women’s singles, and bronze in the mixed doubles and team events.
Eala defeated Thailand’s Mananchaya Sawangkaew 6-1, 6-2 in the final in Bangkok to take her SEA Games medal tally to six after also winning three bronze medals at the 2021 edition in Vietnam.
But she has gone better in 2025 by becoming the first Filipina since 1999 to win the singles gold in the women’s competition at the tournament following Maricris Fernandez success two decades ago.
“I’m so over the moon. To be able to bring this sort of pride to my country is something I’ve only dreamt about,” Eala told Olympics.com.
She added: “It was just so surreal. Just the experience of being with this team, I think we had such a good dynamic, that they really made the experience special.”
But Alex is not the only person in the Eala family to achieve success at the SEA Games as her mother, Rizza Maniego-Eala, won a bronze medal in the 100m backstroke in swimming at the 1985 SEA Games in Bangkok.
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Playing at the SEA Games is quite different from facing the biggest tennis stars on the WTA, but the reward is just as big for Eala.
“It’s a very different field, because this is something so unique to Southeast Asia, and it means something that a lot of people from Europe or America might not get,” she said.
“This has been something that people from my region look up to and dream about since they’re young.”
She caps off a glorious 2025 season that saw her beat then world No 1 Iga Swiatek and reigning Australian Open winner Madison Keys en route to the semi-final of the Miami Open.
Eala cracked the top 100 in the WTA Rankings on the back of that result while she also reached her first WTA Tour singles final at the Eastbourne International, finishing runner-up to Maya Joint, in June.
Having started the year at No 158, she finished the campaign at No 52.
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