Alex Eala through to W80 France main draw

Filipino tennis star Alex Eala during a match in the 2022 US Open girls’ singles in New York. Photo from Alex Eala’s Facebook

MANILA, Philippines — Alex Eala begins her main draw campaign in the W80 Poitiers against hometown bet Jessika Ponchet on Tuesday in France.

The 17-year-old Filipino battles a French foe, who swept her twice in their past professional circuit tournament duels in Spain, to start off the main draw of her second $80,000 tournament set at 8 p.m. (Manila time).

Eala, who is currently at her best Women’s Tennis Association’s ranking No. 248, tries to get over the hump against the world No.167 Ponchet, who swept her to the second round of W25 Palma del Rio and W60 Vitoria-Gasteiz semifinals.

The first Filipino Grand Slam singles champion dominated her way in the qualifiers after beating French Diana Martynov, 6-1, 6-2, in the last phase on Monday.

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Eala is also opening her doubles campaign with Petra Marcinko of Croatia on Tuesday as they take on Yuliya Hatouka and Iryna Shymanovich of Belarus in the opening round.

The Rafael Nadal Academy scholar, who is eyeing her third professional crown, made her $80,000 debut in the W80 Rancho Sante Fe in California, where she reached the quarterfinal.

Eala ended her W60 Hamburg campaign in Germany with a second round exit at the hands of the top seed Ysaline Bonaventure of Belgium, 6-4, 6-0, last week.