By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
No more tears for Alex Eala this time.
The Filipina ace defused Maya Joint’s strong start with a sequel of brilliance of her won to hack out a 3-6, 6-2, 6-0 victory and punch a ticket to the third round of the Wimbledon Championships on Thursday, July 2.
The 29th-seeded Eala shook off a first-set stumble before mounting a gritty comeback to outlast the hard-hitting Australian, becoming the first Filipino to reach a singles Grand Slam third round in the Open era.
The breakthrough marked Eala’s best Grand Slam performance yet, eclipsing her previous career-best second-round finish at the US Open last year.
It also arranged another thrilling showdown with familiar opponent and defending champion Iga Swiatek, who earlier dispatched former world No. 1 and 2021 runner-up Karolina Pliskova, 6-1, 6-3.
She was humble in victory.
“I really had to dig deep, especially in the first set,” Eala admitted during the on-court interview moments after her win. “Maya came out on fire. She came out ready. I was expecting a really good match.”
“We’ve competed in some very good conditions before, so I was prepared for a good match. She’s coming off an amazing win,” she added.
The triumph, likewise, gave Eala sweet revenge for her heartbreaking three-set loss to Joint in last year’s Eastbourne Open final.
“We had an insane match last year and I lost. It hit me quite hard. I cried a lot. I don’t think I was able to watch those highlights for a couple of months,” she said.
“So I’m really happy. I think I improved a lot in this past year. I’m happy I’m able to look back at that loss and I’m able to smile,” she added.
After getting broken twice to drop the opening set, Eala wrested control with aggressive shot-making in the second frame, refusing to let Joint dictate the pace the rest of the way.
She reeled off three straight games to build a 3-1 advantage, seizing the momentum and forcing a deciding set.
The Filipina dug deep in the third set, overcoming a series of marathon deuce games to open a 3-0 cushion which proved too much for Joint to overcome.
