For the second time in her career, Alex Eala has defeated a current World No. 2.
Eala found the antidote to Elena Rybakina’s power, precision, and aggression, carving out a composed 7-5, 6-4 victory over the two-time Grand Slam champion from Kazakhstan on Thursday in the second round of the WTA 500 Berlin Tennis Open.
The two met for the first time last May 10 on clay in the third round of the WTA 1000 Italian Open, where Rybakina prevailed in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3.
Coming off a title run at the WTA 125 Lexus Birmingham Open two weeks ago, the 21-year-old Filipina entered the matchup hoping to flip the script against Rybakina on grass.
But the Kazakh star immediately reminded everyone of her pedigree on the surface, the same one that carried her to the 2022 Wimbledon crown.
In the last match of the day on Centre Court at the Steffi Graf Stadion of the Rot-Weiss Tennis Club, Rybakina came out firing, using her serve and baseline winners to surge ahead 4-2.
But Eala refused to back down, showing remarkable resilience as she broke Rybakina in the eighth game to level at 4-4.
The Kazakh briefly reclaimed the lead in the ninth game, but Eala shut the door from there, sweeping the rest of the set to take a one-set advantage.
Eala’s growing confidence, fueled by her ability to extend rallies and draw errors from Rybakina, carried into the second set.
She secured an early break in the third game to move ahead 3-1.
Although Rybakina held serve in her next three service games, Eala matched her shot for shot, maintaining control to complete a statement victory over the second seed.
Eala now advances to the quarterfinals, where she will face sixth seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, who earlier defeated hometown bet Eva Lys, 6-3, 6-2.
