Top seed Eala advances to Birmingham Open quarters

Sports

ALEX Eala advanced to the quarterfinal round of the WTA 125 Birmingham Open after downing Russia’s Alina Charaeva, 6-2, 7-5, late Thursday night (Philippine time), June 4, in the United Kingdom.

Coming off an easy first-round win over Australian Priscilla Hon, Eala won the first set with ease before momentarily losing her rhythm in the second set.

The 24-year-old Charaeva, ranked No. 130 in the world, looked ready to force a deciding set when she raced to a 5-2 lead in the second frame.

The 21-year-old Eala weathered the storm, winning the next five games to dispatch her upset-conscious opponent in one hour and 40 minutes.

Eala, thus, repeated over Charaeva, whom she also defeated in the Philippine Women’s Open, 6-1, 6-2.

Ranked no. 37 in the world and the tournament’s top seed, Eala will next play Mananchaya Sawangkaew in an all-Southeast Asian quarterfinal duel.

Sawangkaew secured a quarterfinal seat by beating American Kayla Day in their own Round of 16 match, 6-4, 6-1.

Eala will try to make it two-in-a-row against Sawangkaew as she defeated the 23-year-old Thailander in 33rd Southeast Asian Games in Thailand last December, 6-1, 6-2.

Currently at 173rd in the WTA ranking, Sawangkaew is actually 1-0 against Eala in the professional circuit, beating the Filipina tennis star in the ⁠ITF W100 Takasaki International Open quarters in Japan nearly two years ago, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.(CCM)