Alex Eala fell short in her bid to become the first Filipina to win a WTA Tour final in a loss to Maya Joint in the Eastbourne Open.

For the first time, Alex Eala will be playing for the title in the WTA Tour. Eala scored a grindout 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 win over Varvara Gracheva of France on Friday to advance to the championship round

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.