By MARK REY MONTEJO
Alex Eala reaffirmed her mastery over world No. 20 Jelena Ostapenko with a gutsy 0-6, 6-2, 3-2 (retired) win to march into the quarterfinals of the WTA 250 Lexus Eastbourne Open in Great Britain Wednesday evening, June 25 (Philippine time).
After a shaky start, the 20-year-old Eala stormed back in the next set where she peppered the Latvian with a barrage of heavy shots much to the delight of Eala’s growing number of fans.
Ostapenko tried to rally back in the third frame but she hurt her ankle during one intense moment and opted to retire. With the outcome, Eala faces Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska or British Francesca Jones in the quarters at 9:30 p.m. on Thursday.
It was the second time Eala has beaten the 2017 French Open champion – the first one was when the two squared off in the second round of this year’s Miami Open.
“It’s never a good feeling to finish a match like that,” said Eala moments after the game. “I hope everything’s okay with her, because you know it was really a tough battle today, and I think both of us were on the brink.”
Expectedly Ostapenko came into the game with vengeance in mind, bewildering the Filipina ace with powerful serves and superb groundstrokes on the way to a 6-0 win.
However, it wasn’t enough to break Eala’s will as the double Hangzhou Asian Games bronze medalist found her rhythm and outshone the former WTA No. 4 with her brilliance to level the match at 1-set all.
Eala continued to dominate the match as she won the first two games before Ostapenko trimmed the deficit to 3-2. But an unfortunate thing happened to Ostapenko as she hurt her ankle that made her decide to halt their duel.
Before her showdown with Ostapenko, Eala crushed Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti, 6-0, 6-1, in Round of 32. She also eliminated American Hailey Baptiste (6-7 (7), 7-6 (7), 6-1) and Turkish Zeynep Sonmez (6-1, 6-3) in the qualifying rounds.
Eala is using the event to toughen herself for her second Grand Slam appearance in Wimbledon later this month.
