Alex Eala and Treat Huey won both their opening matches as they continued their respective campaigns in the pro circuit in Europe on Tuesday.
The 17-year-old Eala posted a straight-set victory over fellow teen, 18-year-old Lia Karatancheva of Bulgaria, 6-4, 6-4, in the Round of 64 of the $60,000 VIII Open ITF Arcardis Brezo Osuna held at the outdoor hardcourts of Club Deportivo Brezo Osuna in Madrid, Spain.
Currently 413th in the WTA world rankings, Eala did not drop serve the entire match while breaking Karatancheva’s serve in both sets to secure for the Filipina a spot in the Round of 32 where she will take on 11th seed Daniela Seguel of Chile. The 29-year-old Seguel is ranked 292nd in the world.
Eala went back to the court later in the day to partner with 21-year-old En Shuo Liang in the doubles competition, easily defeating Marta Huqi Gonzales Encinas of Spain and Vasanti Shinde of India, 6-2, 6-1.
Eala and Liang will be in for a battle in the quarterfinals where they will face fourth seeds Timea Babos of Hungary and Valeria Savinykh of Russia.
In Italy, Treat and Franko Skugor of Croatia prevailed over their higher-ranked foes, twins Ivan and Matej Sabanov of Serbia, 6-4, 6-4, in the Emilia-Romagna Tennis Cup held at the clay courts of Montechiarugolo, Parma.
Treat and Skugor converted three break points to overcome the one instance their serve was broken to book themselves a place in the quarters of the $125,000 ATP Challenger event.
Treat will be looking to advance deep in the tournament after falling in the semifinals of an ATP Challenger event the previous week in Nottingham, Great Britain.
