Alex Eala in J1 Roehampton tournament. ALEX EALA FACEBOOK
MANILA, Philippines–Alex Eala’s Wimbledon tune-up hummed as she tries to drive deeper into the draw in late Thursday’s second round of J1 Roehampton in London.
Propelled by her opening round victories in singles and doubles, both of which she is seeded second, the 16-year-old Filipina was to battle Italy’s Matilde Poletti for a spot in the third round singles.
Though the Rafael Nadal Academy scholar is not looking past the tournament, Eala is hoping to gain momentum for her maiden campaign in All-England which starts next week.
With two full years in juniors left, Eala is eyeing to win a first ever Grand Slam singles trophy for the Philippines.
She already has two doubles titles in majors including the recent French Open with Russian Oksana Selekhmeteva.
Later Thursday, Eala will team up with 2020 Australian Open juniors girls doubles co-champ Priska Nugroho of Indonesia in the second round against Czech Republic’s Barbora Palicova and Slovakia’s Radka Zelnickova.
Playing on grass for the first time, Eala didn’t need much adjustment in disposing of Czech Republic’s Darja Vidmanova, 6-4, 6-4, late Wednesday in the first round of singles.
Eala was to face 18-year-old Paoletti, ranked 32nd in the world, who endured American Clervie Ngounoue, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.
She also had a big start in doubles as her partnership with Nugroho eliminated Germany’s Nicole Rivkin and Belgium’s Hanne Vandewinkel, 7-6 (1), 7-5.
Together they will gun for a spot in the quarterfinals against Palicova and Zelnickova, 6-1, 6-2 victors over Britons Isabelle Lacy and Hephzibah Oluwadare.