Alex Eala in action in the W50 Indore. –ALEX EALA FACEBOOK
MANILA, Philippines — Alex Eala barged into the quarterfinal round of the W50 Indore after staving off Ekaterina Yashina of Russia in three sets, 7-6(1), 6(4)-7, 6-0, on Thursday in India.
The 18-year-old Eala and Yashina split their toe-to-toe encounters in the first two sets before the former caught fire in the decider and blanked her Russian foe to prevail in two hours and 39 minutes.
Eala will face the winner between No. 6 seed Anca Alexia Todoni and Japan’s Rina Saigo in the quarterfinal of her second straight $50,000 tournament.
The Rafael Nadal Academy graduate kicked off her W50 Indore campaign with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Zhibek Kulambayeva of Kazakhstan in the first round.
The No.3 seed Filipino is making her second straight quarterfinal appearance in the International Tennis Federation (ITF) tournament, following her top eight exit in the W50 Pune singles where she lost to her doubles partner Darja Semenistaja of Latvia.
Eala earned her first doubles title as a pro in the W50 Pune last week with her partner Semenistaja. She improved her world ranking to 302, moving 63 spots higher from her previous rank.
She also set a new best ranking in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) as the World No.184 from 187.