Alex Eala resumed her quest for a third pro title after advancing to the second qualifying round of the W80 Rancho Santa Fe International Tennis Federation (ITF) tournament in California Monday, Oct. 3 (Tuesday in Manila).
The 17-year-old Eala made her presence felt and trounced Latvia’s Deniza Marcinkevica, 6-1, 6-3, to jumpstart her campaign.
The victory arranged her a meeting with American Alana Smith, who crushed Japanese Hiroko Kuwata, 6-3, 6-1.
This was the first time that Eala is competing in an $80,000 tournament with 10 players in the acceptance list that are ranked in the Top 200.
Among those are top seed Rebecca Peterson of Sweden, owner of 14 ITF singles titles who is still looking for her first crown this year, world No. 107 Yue Yuan of China, No. 112 Katie Volynets of the United States, No. 156 Arianne Hartono of the Netherlands, and American No. 158 Caroline Dolehide, to name a few.
Eala earned a slot in the qualifiers with her ranking of No. 288.
Eala is coming off a second-round finish at the W60 Templeton in California last week where she earned a berth via wildcard.
Prior to that, she also played in the W100 Grodzisk Mazowiecki in Poland where she also finished in the second round.