After spending 24 years away from her motherland, Filipina-American Sabrina Santamaria is eyeing success at the Philippine Women’s Open.
It isn’t every day that an opportunity like the Philippine Women’s Open is presented to Sabrina Santamaria. So when the Filipina-American player's calendar opened up to compete in the country’s first-ever WTA 125 tournament, it was a chance that she couldn’t pass up.
After exiting in the second round of Australian Open, Santamaria quickly worked on flying back to the Philippines for the first time in over two decades.
Fast forward a few days later, Santamaria has the unique chance to win a WTA 125 title in front of her fellow Filipinos. Born abroad to a Filipino mother, Sabrina has since made it a point to embrace her heritage.
Now that she’s in the final with partner Quinn Gleason, she’s dead set on success.
“I had a couple first-round exits in Hobart, first-round exit in Auckland, so for me, I really wanted to get more match play in. So I'm really happy that we could do that, and we're in the final tomorrow,” she told media after her and Gleason’s win over Sara Saito and Li Yu-yun.
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More than getting reps in, Santamaria was further spurred by the fact that her relatives have the rare chance of watching her as well.
While Sabrina's Filipino mother was unable to catch plane tickets home to Manila because of the abrupt schedule changes, Santamaria's extended family was able to secure tickets and watch her compete at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.
For the 32-year-old, it’s a delight to be able to share what she loves with those most important for her.
“My mom, she was born in Quezon City, and so I have all my family members there. She's one out of seven siblings, so I have a lot of aunts and uncles, and they're all here. I got a lot of cousins, so it's been such a blessing to be here and have their support,” said Santamaria.
“I mentioned before, you know, it's been 24 years since I've been back to the Philippines, so it's really special for me to be back,” she added.
Santamaria and Gleason play the winner of the semifinal between Yi Tsen Cho and Cho I-hsuan, and Eudice Chong and Liang En-shou.
The women’s doubles final is slated on Friday, January 30.
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Luisa Morales is a sports writer with a special interest in promoting women’s sports.
Her coverage highlights include the UAAP, PVL, Southeast Asian Games, and the FIBA World Cup. She also follows Alex Eala, the Philippine women’s national football team, and mixed martial arts.