Eala edges home bet in thriller, enters W25 El Espinar/Segovia semis

MANILA, Philippines, July 29 ------ The Philippines' Alex Eala eked out a tough two-set win over Rosa Vincens Mas of Spain to reach the semifinal of the W25 El Espinar/Segovia on Thursday. The two seeded opponents engaged in a battle that lasted over two hours with both sets going into tie break, 7-6(3), 7-6(4), in favor of Eala.

Eala had to fend off Vincens Mas' comeback in the opening set after leading 5-3. The Spaniard strung together three game wins in a row to take the lead, 6-5. But Eala uncorked a near perfect service game in Game 12 to tie the game at 6-all and force the tie break. Eala swung momentum to her side with a 4-1 start in the tiebreak to help her hold on for the win in the opening frame.

In Set 2, Eala was at match point, 40-15, in Game 10, but Vincens Mas clawed back and tied the set at 5-all. Eala and Vincens Mas then made it 6-all after holding their serve in the next two games. Contrary to the opening set, it was Vincens Mas who held the 4-1 advantage over Eala in the tie break. But a crucial double fault by the Spaniard gave some life into Eala's sweep efforts. The Filipina then scored five straight points after that to claim victory, 7-4.

Eala, seeded fourth in the tournament, faces another home bet in Eva Guerrero Alvarez in the semifinal Friday. She is the highest seed remaining in the tournament.

In Tunisia, Eala's brother Miko faltered in his doubles quarterfinal with Germany's Rafael Giotis as they fell to third-seed pair Maximus Jones and Baoluo Zheng, 2-6, 2-6, also on Thursday.

Source: philstar.com