By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
For the nth time, the “Lady Luck” smiled radiantly on Alex Eala, and her supporters are looking forward for another good run that would once again rock the country in excitement just like her historic feats in Miami and Mexico just months ago.
Getting the good breaks she needed, Eala advanced to the Round of 16 in the Hong Kong Open after last year’s finalist Katie Boulter retired during their opening match on Tuesday, Oct. 28, a result that enabled the world No. 51 heaved a sigh of relief.
Eala, who suffered early exits in the China and Japan tournaments that left some her fans fully disappointed, was leading 6-4, 2-1, when the British world No. 79 called for a medical timeout and eventually retired.
The 20-year-old Eala won the tightly-contested first by playing with the same passion and fire just like when she won the Guadalajara 125 Open in Mexico – her first WTA title.
Despite how the match ended, Eala took it with pride, before wishing Boulter speedy recovery.
“This time of the year is a tough moment for a lot of players, physically and mentally, being the end of the season. I hope that Katie can take this time to recover and just look back at her season proudly,” said Eala during her on-court interview.
With the win, Eala set up a second round meeting with third seed Victoria Mboko, who rose from an opening-set stumble to outplay Talia Gibson, 6-7 (2), 6-1, 6-4.
The 19-year-old Canadian has been enjoying a fine season with a career-high ranking of No. 21. She was coming off an impressive title victory at the WTA1000 Canadian Open where she reached the quarterfinals by stunning world No. 2 Coco Gauff, then becoming the youngest player to reach the semifinals in Canada since 2015 after beating Jessica Maneiro.
She then shocked ninth seed Elena Rybakina in the semis then downed Naomi Osaka on her way to her first career title.
Before her Mexico win, Eala made heads turn in the Miami Open after claiming the scalps of Grand Slam winners No. 2 seeded Świątek, Jelena Ostapenko and Madison Keys.
