By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Alex Eala returned to the fashion capital of the world in style, downing local bet Emeline Dartron, 6-3, 6-4, to advance to the second round of the W75 Croissy-Beaubourg International Tennis Federation (ITF) tournament in France on Tuesday, March 26.
The 18-year-old Filipina ace proved to be the better player in the fiercely-contested second set, coming through with bigger shots in the crunch to frustrate Dartron – a wildcard entry.
In all, Eala broke Dartron’s serve three times while holding her own to set up a second round date with unseeded Mona Barthel of Germany.
Though Eala boasts of a higher ranking at No. 171 compared to her rival’s No. 284, Barthel is coming off a morale-boosting 7-5, 6-4 upset win over fourth seed Sachia Vickery of the United States.
Barthel is also expected to lean on her wide experience, having won 11 ITF singles titles – the latest was the W25 Ortisei in Italy last year.
She went as high as No. 23 in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) rankings after playing in several Grand Slam events, including reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open seven years ago.
But Eala is hoping to use the lessons learned at the prestigious Miami Open that saw he pull off a stunning win over former world No. 3 Sara Errani of Italy in the first qualified round.
Eala, however, failed to advance to the main draw after yielding to a more experienced rival in the second qualifying round.
The Asian Games double bronze medal winner is also scheduled to compete in the doubles with hometown bet Estelle Cascino where they face Switzerland’s Celine Naef and India’s Prathana G Thombare in the opening round.
Eala is looking at fifth pro singles title and first this year.
