Filipina Alex Eala makes US Open juniors debut vs tough Aussie

Filipina tennis hotshot Alex Eala is upbeat about her chances when she starts her first-ever US Open juniors stint on Sunday (Monday in Manila) against a tough 16-year-old from Australia.

The 14-year-old said that while she’s facing Annerly Poulos, who has seen action in several Grand Slam events already, she’s on high morale playing the first round considering her impressive showing in the qualifying.

Poulos, who hails from Canberra, made it to the main draw of the Australian Open thrice and French Open once. But she didn’t get past first round in all of previous stints.

On Saturday, Eala disposed of qualifying top seed Romana Cisovska of Slovakia, 6-3, 6-0, at Cary Leeds Stadium Court 1 to formally enter the main draw of girls singles competition.

Eala became the first Filipino to make the main draw of the US Open, or any Grand Slam event, since Jeson Patrombon in 1991.

Eala, a scholar at Rafael Nadal Academy in Mallorca, Spain, converted six of 13 break-point chances, and had 74 winning percentage on her first serve.

The 16-year-old Cisovska got 66 percent of her first serves in, against 50 percent by Eala, but she could only score on one of three break-point opportunities.