Alex Eala survived Romania’s Arina Gabriela Vasilescu, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2, to advance to the second round of the W25 Madrid International Tennis Federation (ITF) tournament in Spain Wednesday, June 8.
Eala, who was unseeded in the event, bucked a slow start and went on dominating Vasilescu to set up a second-round meeting with China’s Xiaodi You.
The fourth-seeded You easily dispatched Australian Ivana Popovic, 6-2, 6-4.
Eala also saw action in the women’s doubles with France’s Alice Robbe where they advanced to the quarterfinals Tuesday, June 7 with a 6-3, 6-3 upset win over third seed Popovic and Alana Parnaby of Australia.
But Eala and Robbe lost steam in the Final 8 as they fell short to Australia’s Zoe Hives and Canada’s Katherine Sebov, 6-0, 6-4.
This is Eala’s first tournament since her debut appearance at the 31st Southeast Asian Games where she bagged three bronze medals.