With a well-placed serve right into the T, Alex Eala is through to yet another quarterfinals.
The service winner sent the 15-year-old Filipina to the next round against Germany’s Silvia Ambrosio, 7-6(3), 1-6, 6-3, in the 2021 ITF World Tennis Tour’s third leg of the tournament hosted in Manacor, Spain, Friday morning (Philippine time).
The match lasted two hours and 48 minutes.
This is the first time Eala is ahead in rankings against her opponent after she breached the Top 1,000. Ambrosio ranks at 1,125 in the WTA ladder.
Eala had to survive two break points in the final game as she struggled with her net approaches. She later managed to regain her groove at serve for that winning point. The first-leg champion even led 4-0 and looked to close out the match, but the more veteran German refused to go down without a fight.
The match started with a battle before Ambrosio took the 5-3 lead in the first set. The Filipina evened out to send the opening frame into a tiebreak. Eala eventually pocketed the set advantage.
Ambrosio then capitalized on Eala’s errors in the following set as she allowed the opponent to only a single hold of serve, sending the match into a decider.
Eala will try to advance into the semifinals as she faces Russian Oksana Selekhmeteva on Friday.
