After getting some rest, Alex Eala is back on track.
The 15-year-old Filipina needed an hour and 45 minutes to subdue Switzerland’s Simona Waltert, 6-1, 6-4 to open the W25 tournament of the 2021 ITF Women’s World Tennis Tour at her ‘home base’ at the Rafa Nadal Tennis Academy, Manacor, Spain, Wednesday evening here in the Philippines.
Eala actually won her first-ever pro tournament title just two months ago in the W15 level contest held here.
Waltert, 20, currently stands at 284th in the world in the WTA rankings. Meanwhile, Eala just reached her highest at the start of the month at 763rd.
The 2020 Australian Open juniors doubles champ jumped right off the bat and took the first two games at 2-0, winning a break of serve. The Filipina ace was relentless after being broken back, then breezed through the next games to take the first set.
The second frame was a different story, with a see-saw battle the saw Eala and Waltert exchanged games. Tied at 4, the younger Filipina held on to take the lead again before taking the game, the set, and the match after three deuces.
Eala will take on the winner of the match between Latvia’s Diana Marcinkevica and Jana Fett of Croatia in the next round.
