By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
To the cheers of mostly Filipino crowd, Alex Eala made her title campaign felt after downing Zeynep Sonmez, 6-4, 6-3, in the opening round of the Abu Dhabi Open early Tuesday, Feb. 3 (Philippine time) in United Arab Emirates.
The Filipina ace shattered a 3-all deadlock in the first set and went on to dictate the tempo for most parts of the match against her Turkish rival in the WTA 500 event.
Up next for Eala is against veteran Aliaksandra Sasnovich, who pulled off one of the day’s upsets by stunning eighth seed Paula Badosa, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.
Eala is also scheduled to compete in the doubles later in the day with Indonesian Janice Tjen against Leylah Fernandez, a Canadian standout of Filipino descent, and multiple Grand Slam doubles champion Kristina Mladenovic.
