Alex Eala pulled the rug from under eighth seed Taylah Preston of Australia, 6-2, 7-6 (1) to barge into the girls’ singles quarterfinals of the US Open Juniors Wednesday, Sept. 7 (Thursday in Manila).
After dominating the opening set, the 17-year-old, 10th-seeded Eala, back in the junior circuit for the first time this year, had to fight back from a 4-1 deficit to push away Preston and snatch their round-of-16 triumph.
The win set the former World Juniors No. 2 up against Russian Mirra Andreeva, a 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 winner over Belgian Sofia Costoulas, in the quarters where the Filipina tennis ace has a chance to surpass her best performance in the US Open scene.
Interestingly, Andreeva is Eala’s doubles partner.
The two also made it to the second after smashing the American tandem of Shannon Lam and Iva Jovic, 6-2, 6-2.
There, Eala and Andreeva next battle Germans Carolina Kuhl and Ella Seidel, who dumped Bulgarian Denislava Glushkova and Spanish Raquel Gonzales Vilar, 6-2, 6-4.