By Kristel Satumbaga
Alex Eala recovered from a second-set hiccup and beat Spain’s Leyre Romero Gormaz, 6-1, 4-6, 6-1, to book a quarterfinal berth in the French Open Juniors on Wednesday night in Paris.
Toughened by months of training at the Rafael Nadal Academy in Spain, Eala refused to be disheartened despite losing the second set as she came through with pin-point shots in the do-or-die third set that rattled her rival and claimed the win.
This time, she needed almost two hours to dispatch her rival which assured herself a first quarterfinal appearance in the singles event of a Grand Slam tournament.
After taking the opening set with little difficulty, Eala found herself trailing her rival 5-1 in the second set.
Though she managed to win the next three games, there was no stopping the Spaniard from winning the second set to a force a decider.
Good thing for the Filipina ace, she still had enough gas left and punished Gormaz with booming serves and wicked shots to finally seal the deal.
This was Eala’s best performance in a Grand Slam event so far, eclipsing her previous third-round finish at the 2020 Australian Open last January.
The victory arranged Eala a quarters date with Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic, who walloped France’s Flavie Brugnone, 6-1, 6-2.
Noskova boasts of three singles titles in clay last year and is currently No. 55 in the International Tennis Federation junior rankings.
Felix Barrientos is so far the best performing Filipino at the Grand Slam singles after reaching the semifinals of the 1985 Wimbledon boys singles.
