ALEX Eala made her debut in the clay season a memorable one at the WTA 125K Oeiras Ladies Open in Portugal.
The top-seeded Filipina teenager returned from a rain delay by winning four straight points to take out the Netherlands’ Anouk Koevermans, 6-3, 6-4, on Tuesday in the WTA Tour's 125 tournament.
READ Thanks to Eala, PH tennis has momentum. Let it not go to waste
Eala dominated the world No. 182 ranked Dutchwoman in the first set as she rode the momentum of a historic run at the Miami Open, where she became the first Filipino to reach the semifinals of a WTA tournament.
She went a break down, 2-4, when play was stopped because of a downpour on Monday but returned in much sharper form.
This was her first clay-court tournament in about a year, the last being her failed attempt to qualify for the French Open last season, where she fell a win short of reaching the mai draw after losing her third match in the qualifiers to Julia Riera.
She has since climbed to No. 72 in the WTA world rankings and motivated to do well in clay like her idol Rafael Nadal.
As a juniors player, Eala won a French Open doubles title with Russian partner Oksana Selekhmeteva in 2021 and got as far as the semifinals in singles in 2020.
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