ALEX Eala rallied from a disastrous opening set to beat fourth seed Jelena Ostapenko, 0-6, 6-2, 3-2, and clinch a spot in the quarterfinals of the WTA 250 Eastbourne Open on Wednesday night.
After an hour and 37 minutes of play, the Latvian star retired early in the third set due to an apparent injury, shortly after Eala had jumped to a 2-0 lead.
READ Alex Eala whips Bronzetti, reaches Eastborne Open round of 16
Now ranked No. 74 in the world, the 20-year-old Filipina showed her win against the world No. 20 at the Miami Open was no fluke as she reached the Final 8 of her final tournament before Wimbledon.
Eala now awaits her quarterfinal opponent between home bet Francesca Jones, ranked No. 125 by the WTA, and world No. 45 Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine.
Eala initially beat Ostapenko in the second round of the Miami Open last March on the way to a breakthrough semifinal appearance in a WTA event last March.
A repeat win looked improbable after Eala lost the first set at love, but she came back to life in the second set where she won three straight games from 1-1 to take control.
Although the Latvian managed to take another game to cut the lead to 4-2, Eala got a grip on her rhythm and was quicker to the ball to force a decider.
The third set saw Eala open with a break of serve before Ostapenko twisted her ankle trying to break back. She played through the injury and even won two consecutive games to close the gap to 3-2 before deciding to retire.
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