By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Alex Eala rediscovered her old fiery form and crushed Priscilla Hon, 6-0, 6-2, to advance to the second round of the Birmingham Open in Great Britain on Tuesday, June 2 (Philippine time).
Eala, the top seeded player in this WTA 125 tournament, controlled the match throughout despite brief resistance from her Aussie rival to regain her footing in her first grass event.
The Filipina ace was coming off a first-round defeat in the doubles with Czech Nikola Bartunkova the other day.
The victory arranged Eala a next meeting with the winner between Greet Minnen and Alina Charaeva, who are playing as of this writing.
The world No. 37 Eala dominated Hon from start to finish and was on the verge of handing the Australian a second-set bagel before Hon managed to break the Filipina’s serve in the sixth game, cutting the lead to 1-5.
Hon appeared to recover by holding her serve in the next game, but Eala was quick to recover, capturing the eighth game to seal the win.
