By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Alex Eala overpowered local wildcard bet Jenny Lim, 6-1, 6-4, to advance to the second round of the W25 Joue les Tours in France late Wednesday.
The 16-year-old Eala asserted her might and bedazzled her fellow junior player with pinpoint shots to prevail and set up a meeting with second seed Russian Oksana Selekhmeteva.
The Russian made it to the next round via a 6-2, 2-1 (ret.) decision over Cristiana Ferrando.
Eala and Selekhmeteva have known each other very well even their strengths and weaknesses having played together in the 2021 Roland Garros Girls Doubles Championship.
They clicked instantly that resulted to winning the title.
But this time, they will be trading strokes against each other for a quarterfinal berth in the $25,000 tournament.
This would be the second time that Eala and Selekhmeteva are meeting in a singles match, with the Russian winning their first meeting at the quarterfinals of the W15 Manacor last year, 6-2, 6-3.
Selekhmeteva also boasts of a higher Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) ranking of 207 compared to Eala’s 580.
The Russian is also coming off a semifinal finish at the W25 Manacor last January.
