By MARK REY MONTEJO
Filipina tennis ace Alex Eala maintained her fine form and scored a vengeful win pver China’s Xinyu Wang, 6-4, 6-3, to advance to Round of 32 of the WTA 1000 Italian Open (Internazionali BNL d’Italia) in Rome Friday, May 8.
Down 0-3 in the opening frame, the 20-year-old shifted to a higher gear and delivered strong hits to halt Wang’s dominance and snatch the set. That counter continued in the second where the Filipina recovered anew from a 2-3 deficit before storming past her Chinese foe.
Aside from securing her spot in Last 32, Eala, currently WTA No. 42, exacted her revenge on No. 33 Wang after dealing her a semifinal loss in the WTA 250 ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand last January.
But Eala’s victory arranged her a daunting assignment in the following round where she takes on either Greece’s Maria Sakkari or world No. 2 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan.
And if Rybakina prevails over Sakkari, Eala plunges to her third contest where she tangles with a No. 2 player – she battled two bets in the past in the likes of current No. 3 Polish Iga Swiatek and No. 4 American Coco Gauff.
Eala’s recent triumph also sort of boosted her morale after several quick exits in her previous competitions, including her first-round loss to Belgian Elise Mertens, 2-6, 1-6, at WTA 1000 Mutua Madrid Open in Spain.
