Alex Eala trounced Dutch qualifier Lian Tran, 6-4, 6-2, to barge into the second round of the W100 Vitoria-Gasteiz International Tennis Federation (ITF) tournament in Spain on Wednesday, July 17.

Seeded fifth in the event, Eala recovered from dropping her first serve and dictated the pace throughout to set up a meeting with local bet Lucia Cortez Llorca.

The unseeded Llorca opened her campaign on a bright note by routing Turkish qualifier Pemra Ozgen, 6-2, 6-1.

Eala’s singles win came a day after she and French partner Estelle Cascino whipped Spaniards Carolina and Jimena Gomez, 6-3, 6-2, in the opening round of the women’s doubles.

Eala and Cascino, who are seeded in the 16-pair field, will next face Czech Republic’s Victoria Bervid and Italy’s Laura Mair, who crushed another Spaniard tandem in Maria Pia Orga Nebra and Leire San Jose, 6-2, 6-1.

Against Llorca in the singles, it would be the second time that Eala is meeting Llorca in an ITF tournament.

Incidentally, their first meeting was in last year’s edition of the tournament where the 19-year-old filipina tennis sensation edged the Spaniard in the quarterfinals.

Eala also boasts of a higher Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) rankings of No. 155 against Llorca, who is at No. 385.

Eala is using the tournament as a boost for her campaign to compete in the US Open slated late next month, while also gunning for her fifth singles and third doubles titles in the ITF scene.