Alex Eala stretched her winning streak on grass after repeating over Thai Mananchaya Sawangkaew, 6-3, 6-2, to march into the semifinal of the WTA 125 Birmingham Open in the United Kingdom early Saturday, June 6 (Philippine time).

In an all-Southeast Asians quarters duel, 21-year-old Eala, the tournament’s No. 1 seed, proved too much to handle, outscoring her Thai rival, 44-24, on service points, had more points, 71-51, to wrap up the match in just one hour and 21 minutes.

Eala, the current WTA No. 37, also leveled her professional head-to-head record with the No. 173 Sawangkaew, the very player she defeated to capture her first SEAG singles gold medal during the 33rd edition in Thailand last December.

With the win, the 5-foot-9 Eala arranged a semis clash against No. 132 Rebeka Masarova of Switzerland.

The Swiss outlasted No. 146 American Mary Stoiana, 6-4, 3-6, 6-0, in the other quarterfinal pairing.

Going into the semis, Eala enjoys a psychological advantage over the Swiss having beaten her, 6-4, 6-3, in last year’s ITF W75 Trnava in Slovakia

The two had also teamed up in the Birmingham Open doubles event, concluding their campaign in Round of 16 after absorbing a 4-6, 4-6 loss to Australians Ellen Perez and Storm Hunter.

Meanwhile, No. 69 Czech Nikola Bartunkova and American No. 120 American Ashlyn Krueger toppled their respective foes to arrange a meeting in another semis pairing.