Alex Ila W25 reaches Thailand final

File – Alex Ella of the Philippines trains during the Miami Open at the Hard Rock Stadium on March 24, 2021 in Miami Gardens, Florida. Matthew Stockman / Getty Images / AFP (Photo by Matthew Stockman / Getty Images North America / Getty Images via AFP)

MANILA, Philippines ক্স Alex Ila is trying to get a sense of the region’s competition and weather ahead of next month’s Southeast Asian Games. And the Philippines’ bright hopes have so far faded.

Ila, a 16-year-old, made her bet against Luxika Kumkhum, an older, more experienced hometown, in the final of the W25 Chiang Rai in Thailand on Sunday.

Kumkhum is expected to represent his country at the Hanoi Games, a prelude to the SEA Games singles competition. The 28-year-old Thai, ranked 66th in the world, won the women’s singles at the 2017 Kuala Lumpur edition.

Ila is seeing work at the biennial meeting for the first time and Rafael Nadal took a big part in his work on his training method at the academy.

Making a splash from her European and American tour, Ila ignited through the main draw of the hard court tournament, beating China’s mother Ye-jin 6-3, 6-4 in the semifinals on Saturday.

He also defeated Momoko Kobori of Japan (6-3, 6-3) in the quarterfinals and Pacharin Chepchandez of Thailand (6-3, 6-4) in the second round. His toughest match so far was his 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 win over Serbia’s Katarina Kozarev in the first round.

But it is about to rise to a different level against Kumkhum, who has been playing in the Grand Slam since 2013 and finished the career-best third round at the 2018 Australian Open.

Kumkhum won a gold medal in the women’s doubles at the Asian Games, beating Erica Sema of Japan 6-4, 6-4 in the other semifinal.