REFUSING to back down, Alex Eala showed resilience and grit under pressure to earn her spot in the main draw of the WTA 250 Eastbourne Open in Great Britain —her final tune-up before Wimbledon.
The Filipina joins top names like Daria Kasatkina, Jelena Ostapenko, and Emma Raducanu in the main draw after back-to-back wins in the qualifiers capped by an upset of world No. 56 Hailey Baptiste, 6(1)-7, 7-6(4), 6-1 on Sunday night (Manila time).
LOOK: Alex Eala makes it to entry list of Wimbledon
Eala opened her campaign with a dominant victory against Turkey’s Zeynep Sonmez, 6-1, 6-3 last Saturday and fought through fatigue and a one-set deficit to hurdle Baptiste in a match that lasted two hours and 47 minutes.
The world No. 77 won the second-set tiebreak and carried the momentum to the third set, holding the American to a single game in a dazzling show of shotmaking to complete the comeback.
The win should keep Eala in sharp form in the days leading up to Wimbledon, where she was included in the entry list to bring her in line to a second grand slam appearance after her main draw debut at the French Open.
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