Alex Eala beats highest-ranked foe yet, now off to France 80k quarterfinals

October 28 ------ FILIPINA TEEN tennis ace Alex Eala just defeated WTA no. 107 Vitalia Diatchenko of Russia, 6-4, 6-3, to punch her ticket to the quarterfinals of W80 Poitiers, France.

This victory now stands as her greatest upset yet. Diatchenko, tournament eighth-seed, is the highest ranked player Eala has beaten in the pro circuit. The 32-year-old veteran is also a former WTA no. 71. Eala, WTA no. 248, is now through the quarterfinals of the $80,000 tournament as the search continues for her third pro title.

Despite a quick Diatchenko start, Eala broke off from 2-2 to win consecutive games and lead 4-2. Diatchenko swept in again to equalize at 4-4, before the Filipina broke the Russian in the ninth game, and sustained her service to cap off the first set at 6-4. Gaining composure, Eala started stronger in the second set, pulling off an ace in the second game for a confident 2-0 start. Diatchenko, though, nipped at her heels, trailing only a game behind at 4-3 before Eala took both the eighth and ninth games to seal the win. The match lasted for an hour and 23 minutes. Eala battles the winner of the match between China’s Xinyu Wang and Croatia’s Ana Konjuh in the next round.

Before she approached the main draw, the wunderkind had to defeat two home bets in the qualifying. She first took Astrid Cirotte, 6-1, 6-2, in the first round, then Diana Martynov, also 6-1, 6-2, to officially make it to the Women's Singles main draw. Eala then took her revenge on rival Jessika Ponchet in an 6-2, 5-7, 7-6(6) thriller that reached almost three hours to move through the round of 16.

The 2022 US Open Girls Champ will next face Croatia's Ana Konjuh, WTA no. 153, in the round of eight quarterfinals. Eala won her maiden title in the first leg of W15 Manacor in 2021, then her second in the W25 Chiang Rai last April.

Source: spin.ph

Editor's note:

In the doubles division, Alex Eala suffered a quarterfinal exit as she and her Croatian partner, Petra Marcinko lost to No.3 seed Miriam Kolodziejova and Marketa Vondrousova of Czech Republic, 7-5, 6-2.