BACK in the spotlight, Alex Eala shoots for a quarterfinal berth as she clashes with familiar foe Sorana Cirstea in the Round of 16 of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
Ranked no. 47, the Filipina rising star looks to flip the script against the world no. 32 Romanian, who edged her in their lone meeting at the Madrid Open last year, 6-3, 6(6)-7, 6-4.
Cirstea storms in armed with straight-set wins over Linda Noskova (6-1, 6-4) and Aliaksandra Sasnovich (6-3, 7-6[6]).
READ: With Pinoy fans behind her, Eala powers through tough tiebreak
But Eala has her own momentum, dismantling Jasmine Paolini, 6-1, 7-6(5), after advancing past Hailey Baptiste, 6-4, 0-1, who retired.
It’s a primetime duel at the Center Court of the Dubai Duty Free Stadium, set not before 12:10 a.m. Thursday, Manila time.
Eala, who’s on her sixth tournament of the year, is still in search of her first WTA Tour title.
She won her maiden honor in WTA125 Guadalajara.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
