ALEX Eala had a rare double in Guadalajara — and she nailed it in style.
The Filipina second seed came out firing after a rain delay, outlasting American veteran Varvara Lepchenko, 6(3)-7(7), 7(7)-6(3), 6-3, before toppling Italy’s Nicole Fossa Huergo, 7(7)-6(2), 6-2, to book her place in the semifinals early Friday morning, Manila time.
COLUMN: Thanks to Eala, Philippine tennis has a moment to remember
The day's work brought Eala to the third semifinal appearance of her young professional career and two wins short of her maiden title, which eluded her in June when she lost to Aussie Maya Joint in the Eastbourne Open final.
Her other semifinal run came in the star-studded Miami Open, a WTA 1000 tournament where she toppled one seeded player after another including Iga Swiatek before losing to Jessica Pegula in the Final Four.
Can Eala go all the way now?
The 20-year-old first wrapped up her marathon round-of-16 clash with Lepchenko that was suspended by rain on Thursday, needing just 14 minutes to reach the third set and move on to a quarterfinal match on the same day.
On Thursday morning, their match was halted at 3-2 in the decider with Lepchenko holding the advantage in the sixth game. Restarting the following day, Eala came out strong, racing to a 5-2 lead before eventually closing it out.
With barely an hour of rest, the world No. 75 returned for her quarterfinal, rallying from 3-5 down in the first set, saving five set points, and snatching it in a tiebreak, 7(7)-6(2).
Riding that momentum, she cruised through the second set, breaking from a 2-2 deuce to pull ahead 5-2, and sealing the win in just over 90 minutes to move two wins from her maiden title as a professional.
In the span of three hours, Eala, turned a rain delay into a semifinal ticket where she now meets American Kayla Day.
Eala is the only seeded player still standing in the WTA 125 tournament and Day, ranked No. 418 in the world, is the fourth straight unseeded player he will be facing in Mexico,
The schedule of their match is yet to be determined.
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