By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Alex Eala put on another swashbuckling performance and crushed Mei Yamaguchi, 6-0, 6-3, to advance to the quarterfinals of the 2025 Jingshan Tennis Open in China on Thursday, Sept. 25.
The top-seeded Filipina hardly broke a sweat in outclassing her Japanese rival especially in the opening set where she fired on all cylinders much to the delight of her supporters.
Given the way she beat the Japanese, the top-seeded Eala looks invincible, and that would give the winner between China’s Lu Jiajing and India’s Riya Bhatia a huge headache.
So dominating was Eala – the only top 100 WTA player in the tournament – that she needed just 72 minutes to dispatch Yamaguchi, who is ranked No. 268.
After being annihilated in the first set, the Japanese showed signs of life in the second set, where she held her serve to trim her deficit to 1-2, before breaking Eala’s serve for 2-4.
Getting confident, Yamaguchi managed to win the next game for 3-4.
Despite the Japanese’s resistance, Eala could not be denied as she applied more pressure by mixing her shots to finally wear her down and move closer to winning her second WTA title.
Eala scored 6-3, 7-5 triumph over Belarusian Aliona Falei in the opening round a few days back.
Her latest conquest was enough to bolster her impressive year so far, which was highlighted by her maiden WTA title win at the Guadalajara Open in Mexico early this month.
