By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Alex Eala hopes to carry the momentum from her second-round match at the Guadalajara 125 Open, which was suspended due to heavy rain in Mexico on Thursday, Sept. 4 (Philippine time).
The 20-year-old Filipina dropped a tightly contested opening set but bounced back to force a decider before play was halted. She was leading American Varvara Lepchenko, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (3), 3-2, when the match was suspended.
Lepchenko, currently ranked No. 119, used her powerful serve to edge Eala in the first set. However, the second-seeded Filipina rallied in the second-set tiebreak, pulling away from a 4-1 lead to level the match.
In the deciding set, both players held serve early until Lepchenko was broken in the fifth game, giving Eala a 3-2 advantage before the rain stopped the match.
A victory for Eala would earn her a quarterfinal berth, where she would face unseeded Italian Nicole Fossa Huergo.
Fossa Huergo was coming off a 6-7 (2), 6-0, 6-1 upset victory over seventh seed Katarzyna Kawa.
Eala is currently No. 70 in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) live rankings, with the US Open still ongoing. She jumped five rungs from No. 75 last week.
