Alex Eala has not forgotten the stinging loss she suffered at the hands of Argentina’s No. 3 Julie Riera during the qualifiers of the 2024 French Open.
On Thursday morning (Philippine time), the Filipina tennis star exacted her revenge, dismantling Riera with a commanding 6-1, 6-4 victory in the second round of the WTA 250 São Paulo Open at the Villa-Lobos State Park in Brazil.
Barring a few minor hiccups, Eala was in control for most of the match.
The third-seeded Eala immediately imposed herself, breaking the former world No. 93 twice despite being down 15-40 in both games, racing to a 4-0 lead in the first set.
Riera got a lifeline in the fifth game after Eala double-faulted three times to surrender her serve, giving the Argentine her only game of the opener.
But Eala quickly regrouped, taking the next two games to seal the set in just 34 minutes.
Riera, 23, showed more resistance in the second set. After losing her serve in the opening game, she broke back to level at 1-1 and kept pace until 2-2.
The turning point came in the fifth game, when Eala secured her fifth break of the match to take control and build a 4-2 cushion.
Both players then held serve until the tenth game, where Eala closed out the match.
Riera had denied Eala a main-draw berth at the 2024 French Open, winning in three sets during the final round of the qualifiers.
Eala, however, avenged that loss later in August 2024 with a straight-sets victory in the ITF W100 Cary in North Carolina.
Their head-to-head record now stands at 2-1 in favor of the Filipina.
Eala will take a well-deserved rest on Friday before returning to action in Saturday’s quarterfinals. She will face Indonesia’s Janice Tjen in a much-anticipated clash between the top two Southeast Asian players in the world.
Tjen, 23, has been one of the fastest-rising stars on the WTA Tour.
After playing collegiate tennis for the University of Oregon and Pepperdine University, she turned professional full time only in 2024 but has already won 13 ITF singles titles.
She made headlines at the US Open by surviving the qualifiers, then stunning 24th seed Veronika Kudermetova in the first round before bowing to Emma Raducanu in the second.
She is now ranked a career-high No.130 in the world.
