At A Glance
- Alex Eala kept her hot streak going as she cruised past France's Yasmine Mansouri, 6-0, 6-2, to advance to the second round of the São Paulo Open in Brazil Wednesday morning, Sept. 10 (Philippine time)
Alex Eala (AP/File)
Alex Eala extended her string of victories after cruising past France’s Yasmine Mansouri, 6-0, 6-2, to advance to the second round of the São Paulo Open in Brazil Wednesday morning, Sept. 10 (Philippine time).
Following a title win in the WTA 125 Guadalajara Open in Mexico, the world No. 61 Eala capitalized on the momentum as she showed brilliance in her return to WTA 250 action where she completely dominated her French foe.
With her rousing triumph in Round of 32, the 20-year-old rising star arranged a Last 16 showdown against Argentina’s Julia Riera, who booked her ticket via a 6-3, 7-6(1) win over Russian Vitalia Diatchenko, on Thursday, Sept. 11.
This marked the third time that Eala would be facing Riera as the two had history in last year’s Roland Garros (third qualifying round) and W100 Cary (first round).
The No. 3 seed Eala bowed to the unseeded Argentinian in their first face-off on the clay surface of the French Open qualifiers, 4-6, 7-6, 6-4, but managed to bounce back by notching a 6-3, 6-1 victory at the opener of Cary tiff.
The 5-foot-9 lefty was hot right from the get-go, blanking Mansouri in the opener before needing to save her break point four times against her rival.
Mansouri, who made her way into the main draw after her two wins against Brazilian bets in the qualifiers, tried to shift the tempo in the second frame where she cut the deficit to just two, 2-4.
But Eala was just too hot to handle as she delivered big hits to seal the match.
A few days ago, Eala authored another historic achievement for Philippine sports with her first WTA 125 title after essaying a 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 come-from-behind win over Hungarian Panna Udvardy in the finale.