Alex Eala survived hard-serving Austrian Sinja Kraus, 6-2, 6-4, to advance to the second round of the Workday Canberra International in Australia on Tuesday, Dec. 31.

The 19-year-old Eala, who had to go through the qualifiers, pounced on her lesser-ranked rival with strong returns to prevail after one hour and 20 minutes in this Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) event.

The victory arranged the Filipina bet a second-round date with the winner between second seed Anna Bondar of Hungary and Dutch Arianne Hartono, who were playing at press time.

Eala dropped her serve thrice but managed to break Kraus six times despite the Austrian firing six aces throughout the match.

While campaigning in the singles, Eala is also competing in the doubles with Japanese partner Sayaka Ishii where they are battling France’s Elsa Jacquemot and Canada’s Maina Stakusic in the opening round of the 16-pair field at press time.

This is technically Eala’s first tournament for the 2025 season as she guns for her first WTA singles and doubles titles.

So far, she has won five singles and three doubles crowns in the International Tennis Federation (ITF).