MANILA, Philipppines – Young tennis stars Alexandra Eala and Tracy Llamas will be seeing action in the the 2017 WTA Future Stars tournament on October 17 to 22 at the Kallang Tennis Center in Singapore. 

Both Eala and Llamas secured top spots in the U-14 and U-16 divisions of the 2nd Cebuana Lhuillier WTA Future Stars qualifying tournament last September. The competition is in its second year of partnership with the WTA Future Stars “Race to Singapore,” allowing Unified Tennis Philippines (UTP) to select their delegates for the Asia-Pacific tournament. 

Top ranked 12-year old Eala successfully defended her title in the WTA qualifiers U-14 division by sweeping Sydney Enriquez in 2 sets without dropping a game, 6-0, 6-0. This marks her second time to advance to the WTA Future Stars tournament. 

Llamas pulled off an upset over 2016 champion Carlyn Guarde, as she edged the U-16 number one player in 3 sets, 6-4, 4-6, 10-5. 

The Filipina delegates are included in the count of 48 junior tennis players from 21 Asia-Pacific countries, which is an all-time high for the tournament that was started in 2014.

The tournament is part of the WTA Future Stars program, which was developed to showcase the Asia Pacific’s rising tennis stars by allowing them to compete against each other while building friendships and encouraging sportsmanship. – Rappler.com