Eala quickly raced to a 3-0 lead before Gracheva took her first game, 3-1. Eala extended her lead to 4-1, but Gracheva fought back, winning four straight games to brab the lead at 5-4, mostly by capitalizing on Eala’s errors. Eala responded by tying it at 5-all, then regained momentum to close out the first set in 57 minutes.

"A WTA trophy!🥹 Thank you everyone for the love❤️," she posted on her Instagram page. Alex Eala concluded her breakthrough run at the Eastbourne Open after being edged out

When tennis powers downgraded the storied WTA tournament at Eastbourne, on the south coast of the U.K., fans and business owners in the town feared the consequences. It went from a 500-level event to a 250,