Alex Eala barged into the main draw of the W25 Joue les Tour after winning two qualifying matches in France.
The country’s top junior player opened her campaign with a quick 6-0, 6-1 victory over Latvian Anna Ozerova on Sunday and then followed it up with a 6-2, 6-0 thrashing of German Fabienne Gettwart for a spot in the 32-player main draw field.
Eala clashes with local wildcard bet Jenny Lim of France in the main draw opening round.
On paper, the 16-year-old Eala is favored in the matchup with her higher ranking.
The Filipino bet is currently at No. 583 in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) rankings while the French player, a fellow junior who is only one year older than Eala, is ranked 1591.
Eala also boasts of one pro title at the W15 Manacor in Spain last year while Lim, who has a 9-6 career win-loss record, has yet to win a title in the women’s circuit.
Eala hopes to surpass her best finish in the season so far – a third-round appearance at the W25 Manacor in Spain last January.
This is her fifth tournament this year.