By MARK REY MONTEJO
Alex Eala unleashed her inner beast in a tight second set battle and pulled off a 6-3, 7-5 win over Belarus’ Yuliya Hatouka to barge into the quarterfinal round of the W100 Dubai Open at the Habtoor Grand Resort Wednesday, Dec. 4.
Tied at 5-all in the second frame, the 19-year-old Eala proved she has a heart of a lion, firing timely hits and a defensive masterclass to overcome Hatouka’s final salvo in their 1 hour and 40 minute Round of 16 clash.
The hard-earned win brought Eala in the quarters where she will battle much older Japanese Kyōka Okamura, who stunned Turkish Berfu Cengiz (6-4, 6-3, 6-0) and Slovenian Dalila Jakupovic (6-3, 6-2) in her previous contests.
On the other hand, the two-time Asiad bronze medalist whipped Russian qualifier Rada Zolotareva, 6-2, 6-3, in her first assignment in the singles division.
Fresh from leading the Nationals for a promotion in the BJK Cup last week, Eala took the opening set with nary a trouble.
Though it looked like the momentum was on Eala’s side, the Belarusian was able to level the score in the second frame as Eala continued to misfire, thus squandering a 4-2 lead.
But that was Hatouka’s last hurrah as Eala regained her composure to take the next two games.
Meanwhile in the doubles category, the Hangzhou Asian Games double-bronze winner blended well with Greece’s Valentini Grammatikopoulou on the way to a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Russian duo Daria Kudashova and Ekaterina Shalimova.
The Filipino-Greek pair now awaits the winner between the duo of France’s Amandine Hesse and Slovenia’s Nika Radisic against the Netherlands’ Isabelle Haverlag with Russian Elena Pridankina.
