MANILA, Philippines – Alex Eala is making sure her last tournament for the year counts.
Playing double duty, the 19-year-old Eala advanced to the quarterfinals in both singles and doubles of the ITF W100 27th Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge 2024 held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Eala prevailed in two hard-fought sets over 24-year-old Yuliya Hatouka of Belarus, 6-3, 7-5, in the second round of the women’s singles on Wednesday at the hard court of the Habtoor Grand Resort.
Seeded fourth in the competition, Eala opened her campaign in the $100,000 event with a strong showing in Tuesday’s first round when she made short work of 16-year-old qualifier Rada Zolotareva of Russia, 6-2, 6-3.
Hatouka also impressed in the Round of 32 as she thumped the favored world No. 234 Xeyin Ma of China, 6-1, 7-5.
Eala found the Belarusian veteran a tough nut to crack with the two exchanging momentum swings in the second set.
Trailing 0-2, Eala quickly regained her bearings to sweep the next four games to seemingly seize control of the match.
Hatouka went on a run of her own by pocketing the next three games to regain the lead at 5-4, but Eala then won the next three games to finish the set in 1 hour and 2 minutes.
The first set saw Eala break a 3-3 deadlock by scoring a crucial service break, which enabled the Filipina to gain momentum and win the three succeeding games.
The world No. 155 Eala showed progress in her serve as she registered a season-high 11 aces, although she committed 5 double faults.
Eala will next face unseeded 29-year-old Japanese Kyoka Okamura, who stunned No. 8 seed Berfu Cengiz of Turkey on Wednesday, 6-4, 3-6, 6-0.
On Tuesday, Eala partnered with former world doubles No. 97 Valentini Grammatikopoulou of Greece to defeat Daria Kudashova and Ekaterina Shalimova of Russia, 6-2, 6-4.
The Filipina and Greek duo will have a tough draw in the quarterfinals as they are slated to face second seeds Elena Pridankina of Russia and Isabelle Haverlag of the Netherlands.
Eala’s last tournament in the pro tour was the ITF W100 Takasaki International Open in Japan, where she suffered a quarterfinal exit last November 22.
She is coming off her maiden appearance in the Billie Jean King Cup hosted last week in Bahrain, where Eala helped the Philippine women’s team earn a promotion to Group II in next year’s competition. – Rappler.com