Eala faces dangerous Spaniard next

Filipino tennis star Alex Eala at the Wimbledon. ALEX EALA FACEBOOK

A 17-year-old Spaniard is standing in the way of Alex Eala in her pursuit of a Grand Slam junior singles title in Wimbledon.

After taking a break on Wednesday, the 16-year-old Eala was to battle Ane Mintegi del Olmo late in Thursday’s second round at Court No. 4.

Del Olmo is 27th in the world in juniors and isn’t seeded in the tournament. But the second-seeded Eala, the world No. 3 among girls, can’t take her lightly, not after losing to an unseeded Briton Matilda Mutavdzic, 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-1, in the first round of the recent French Open.

Eala progressed after a 6-2, 6-4, triumph over Argentinian Solana Sierra in the first round. Del Olmo advanced by taking down Italian Eleonora Alvisi, 6-1, 6-0.

If successful, Eala will take on either Elizabeth Coleman of the United States or Kylie Bilchev of Great Britain.

She and Priska Nugroho of Indonesia also got through to the second round in doubles.

The 2020 Australian Open champs downed Erika Matsuda of Japan and Valencia Xu of the United States, 6-0, 6-0.

Seeded third, the pair was to face Chelsea Fontenel of Switzerland and Ashlyn Krueger of the United States, who eliminated Oceane Babel of France and Evialina Laskevich of Belarus, 7-6 (2), 6-3.