By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Alex Eala claimed the scalp of world No. 41 Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, to advance to the second round of the prestigious Mutua Madrid Open in Spain on Tuesday, April 23.
The 18-year-old Eala recovered from a slow start to disarm Tsurenko with her strong shots to clinch her biggest victory to date.
Tsurenko made heads turn in 2018 when she reached the quarters of the US Open.
The last time Eala stunned a player inside the Top 100 Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) ranking was last March where she shocked then No. 100 and 2012 Roland Garros finalist Sara Errani in the qualifying round of the Miami Open in Florida.
But a tougher road awaits for Eala as she next faces 27th seed Sorana Cirstea, who earned an opening round bye.
Another stunning win for Eala against Cirstea would arrange hera potential dream matchup with world No. 1 Iga Swiatek of Poland, who is meeting China’s Wang Xiyu, in the second round.
Ranked No. 30, Cirstea is the highest-ranked player Eala would have to battle. The 34-year-old Romanian achieved a career-high No. 21 and has made it to the quarterfinals of the 2009 Roland Garros, as well as last year’s US Open.
Cirstea made it to the fourth round of the Miami Open in March and was coming off a first-round finish at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany last week.
She was also a semifinalist at the Dubai Tennis Championships, a WTA1000 event, last February.
