Alex Eala regains form, beats hometown bet in 3rd leg of Manacor tilt

Alex Eala. Photo from RAFA NADAL ACADEMY

MANILA, Philippines — Alex Eala returned from a short spell and was back to her menacing form Wednesday.

Eala dumped hometown bet Ana Lantigua de la Nuez, 6-0, 6-2, Wednesday in the third leg of the ITF Rafa Nadal Academy World Tennis Tour in Manacor, Spain.

The 15-year-old Eala is coming off a four-day respite after a quarterfinals exit in the second leg of the tournament.

Eala moves on to clash with either top seed Margot Yerolymos of France or Silvia Ambrosio of Germany in the second round.

Challenging the tournament’s No. 1-ranked player isn’t new to Eala, who knocked off top seed Seone Mendez in the first leg en route to clinching her first professional title.

Eala has been on a meteoric rise, jumping 248 spots to enter the top 1000 of the WTA singles rankings.