Alex Eala overcomes seeded Chinese foe, forges quarters duel with doubles partner in Madrid tiff

MANILA, Philippines, June 10 ------ Alex Eala is through to the quarterfinals of the W25 Madrid tourney in Spain after a convincing win over fourth-seeded Xiaodi You of China in the Round of 16 on Thursday.

Eala, fresh from winning three bronzes in the 31st Southeast Asian Games in Hanoi, swept Xiaodi with a 6-4, 6-2 victory in less than two hours. The 17-year-old jumped to a strong start when she took a 4-1 lead in the opening set, punctuated by an ace. Though the World No. 296 recovered and cut Eala's lead down to one game, 4-5, the Filipina was able to break Xiaodi's serve in the 10th game to claim the opening set win, 6-4. Things were tighter in the beginning of Set 2 as both players traded game wins in the first four games, 2-2. But Eala shifted momentum to her side as she blanked Xiaodi in Game 5.

This buoyed her to three more straight game wins to claim the sweep and the victory, 6-2

The win thus forged Eala's battle with her doubles partner Alice Robbe of France. Robbe is seeded 8th in the tournament. Eala and Robbe exited the doubles tournament in the quarterfinal earlier this week. The Filipina tennister is looking for her third ITF singles title after winning the W15 Manacor first leg in 2021 and the W25 Chiang Rai in April.

Source: philstar.com