It was a match Alex Eala had no business winning.
Yet she did, overcoming a sluggish start, saving a match point, and overturning a seemingly insurmountable deficit in the third set.
The 20-year-old Filipina held her ground despite struggling early, rallying past Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus, 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (5), on Wednesday at the WTA Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open in the United Arab Emirates.
Playing for the second time in three days on the main Stadium Court of the Zayed Sports City International Tennis Centre, Eala had only a brief moment of control in the first set, holding serve in the opening game.
Sasnovich quickly turned the tide, breaking to go up 3-1. Eala managed to hold serve in the fifth game but dropped it again in the seventh, allowing the Belarusian to take the set 6-2 in just 35 minutes.
The second set saw Eala fall behind early once more after losing her serve in the opening game.
She finally earned her first break to level at 1-1 and then secured the lead in the third game, which she maintained for the remainder of the set.
Despite creating six break point opportunities in the sixth and eighth games, Eala could not widen her lead.
Her persistence, however, paid off when she broke former world No. 29 Sasnovich in the tenth game, sealing the second set after a tense, hour-and-seven-minute battle.
Sasnovich came out firing in the third, racing to a 4-0 lead and moving within a point of 5-0.
Eala, however, found her rhythm, winning the next two games to stay in contention.
Still trailing 5-2, she mounted a remarkable comeback, taking the next four games to reclaim the lead, much to the delight of the large Filipino crowd.
The veteran Belarusian held her serve in the 12th game, forcing a nail-biting tiebreak.
In the tiebreak, Sasnovich regained the edge at 5-4.
But Eala, refusing to let her hard-fought comeback go to waste, stayed composed and claimed the final three points to secure a stunning victory.
Eala will have less than a day to recover as she is scheduled to face second seed Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
She will also compete later in the doubles quarterfinals alongside Janice Tjen of Indonesia, taking on second seeds and recent Australian Open champion Zhang Shuai of China and Cristina Bucsa of Spain.
