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Eala faces Swedish veteran in Australian Open

Sports

Eala faces Swedish veteran in Australian Open

By Kristel Satumbaga-Villar

At A Glance

Alex Eala will have her hands full at the 2024 Australian Open when she clashes with Rebecaa Peterson of Sweden in the first qualifying round in Melbourne.

Alex Eala will have her hands full at the 2024 Australian Open when she clashes with Rebecaa Peterson of Sweden in the first qualifying round in Melbourne.

Alex Eala1 — Alex Eala is competing in the qualifying round of the 2024 Australian Open. (File Photo/Alex Eala Facebook)

The 18-year-old Eala hopes to eclipse her previous performance in the season-opening Grand Slam event where she crashed out of her first qualifying match against Misaki Doi of Japan in three sets.

This would be the first time that Eala would be meeting the 28-year-old Peterson, who has made regular appearances in the main draw of the Grand Slams.

Last year, the Swedish player made it to the Round of 64 of the Roland Garros and the Round of 128 in the Wimbledon and US Open.

She has also made it to the second round of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Ranked No. 128 in the Women’s Tennis Association, Peterson also boasts of 14 International Tennis Federation (ITF) singles titles although she has yet to win one since last clinching a crown in the W60 Rancho Santa Fe event in 2021.

Eala, meanwhile, enjoys a career-high ranking of No. 185 and hopes to make heads turn in her second Australian Open appearance in the women’s division.

She is coming off a semifinal finish in the doubles of the Workday Canberra International.

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