Alex Eala is getting hotter and deadlier each game.
The reigning US Open Juniors champion was at her element again Tuesday (early Wednesday morning, Manila time), she blanked American Alana Smith, 6-0, 6-0, in her second qualifying match of W80 Rancho Santa Fe in Calfironia.
So awesome was the 17-year-old princess of PH sports she needed less than an hour to advance to the tournament proper.
In the round-of-32, Eala, who was seeded second in the qualifiers, will trade strokes with American Dalayna Hewitt.
On paper, Eala looks to have an advantage being ranked No. 281 in the world against No. 401 to the American.
This was the first time that Eala is competing in an $80,000 tournament with 10 players in the acceptance list ranked in the Top 200.
Among those are top seed Rebecca Peterson of Sweden, owner of 14 ITF singles titles, world No. 107 Yue Yuan of China, No. 112 Katie Volynets of the United States, No. 156 Arianne Hartono of the Netherlands, and American No. 158 Caroline Dolehide, to name a few.
Before beating Smith, she trounced trouncing Latvia’s Deniza Marcinkevica, 6-1, 6-3.
Eala failed to get past the second round in last week’s W60 Templeton in California, an event where she secured a wildcard.
Prior to that, she also played in the W100 Grodzisk Mazowiecki in Poland where she also finished in the second round.
