Alex Eala advances to singles quarters of rain-delayed Landisville tourney

MANILA, Philippines – Alex Eala had to wait two days to get back on the court due to inclement weather. When she finally did get to play, her match had to be suspended in the second set again because of the rain. 

Good thing, Eala stayed sharp and ready. 

The world No. 147 Eala disposed of American wildcard entry Mary Stoiana, 7-5, 6-2, in the women’s singles second round of the 2024 Koser Jewelers Tennis Challenge on Friday, August 9 (Saturday, August 10, Philippine time) in Landisville, Pennsylvania.

A former US NCAA No. 1 player in both singles and doubles, Stoiana was looking to add another fancied name to her list of conquests after she pulled off the biggest upset of the opening round, upending second seed and former world No. 65 Kamilla Rakhimova of Russia, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Sensing the danger posed by her 21-year-old foe, Eala immediately buckled down to work and refused to allow Stoiana to get into any kind of rhythm.

Eala broke Stoiana, ranked 496th in the world, in the very first game of the opening set. From there, Eala appeared to be cruising to a one-set advantage when she jumped to a 4-2 lead. 

Stoiana then strung together three straight games to gain the upper hand at 5-4. Eala, however, countered with a three-game streak of her own to clinch the first set at 7-5.

Eala carried over the momentum to the second set. 

From a 2-2 deadlock, the 19-year-old Eala broke Stoiana two more times and blanked Stoiana the rest of the way to win the set at 6-2 and finish the match in one hour and 46 minutes. 

The Filipina teen standout will await in the quarterfinals the winner of the match between two Australians, world No. 167 Talia Gibson and 172nd-ranked Olivia Gadecki. 

Eala has beaten Gibson twice in the past, She has not yet played against Gadecki, who is coming off an appearance in the Paris Olympics.

Eala opened her campaign in this ITF $100,000 event held on the hard courts of the Hempfield recCenter with a straight-set win over Taylah Preston of Australia, 7-5, 6-1, on Wednesday, August 7.

Eala was supposed to return to the court a few hours after her singles match on Friday to team up with Renata Zarazua of Mexico. 

The pair was slated to face Mccartney Kessler and Alana Smith of the United States in the first round, but the organizers eventually decided to cancel the doubles event. – Rappler