Alex Eala ushered in her build-up to her Wimbledon debut with wins in both the singles and doubles events of the J1 Roehampton tournament in the Bank of England Sports Club, Roehampton, Thursday morning (Manila time).
The 16-year-old entered this tournament as the no. 2 seed in both the singles and the doubles.
The competition also served as Eala’s reunion with Indonesian Priska Madelyn Nugroho after their 2019 win of the Australian Open girls’ doubles title.
The juniors world number 3 took care of Czech Republic’s Darja Vidmanova in straight sets at two 6-4 score lines. She advances to the second round in singles play.
Following up on her win, Eala and Nugroho showed championship heart in their pulsating win over Nicole Rivkin of Germany and Hanne Vandewinkel of Belgium at 7-6(1), 7-5.
Eala will face off with Italy’s Matilde Paoletti in the next round in the singles. Meanwhile, the reigning Australian Open champions of girls’ doubles will battle with Czech Barbora Palicova and Slovakian Radka Zelnickova.
The tournament will run up to July 4. Eala then makes her long-awaited debut at the Championships on the following day.
