FILIPINA teen tennis ace Alex Eala continues to go deep in the pros.
The 17-year-old wasted no time starting strong in the W60 Madrid, sweeping Bulgarian Lia Karatancheva, 6-4, 6-4, in the singles first round on Wednesday morning (Manila time) at Club Deportivo Brezo Osuna.
Locked at 2-2, the Bulgarian made a forehand error, with Eala following through with a hold to take a 4-2 advantage on the first set.
She recorded two of two of her break points, winning a total of 12 games.
Alex Eala also making her way through doubles
Meanwhile, in the doubles, the Filipina star and her Chinese partner En Shou Liang also made their way into the quarterfinals after a 6-2, 6-1 first-round takedown of wildcard duo Marta Encinas from Spain and Vasanti Shinde from India.
Eala will next face 11th seed Daniela Seguel of Chile, 29, in the second round.
She is still looking for her third singles pro title after clinching W15 Manacor in 2021, and W25 Chiang Rai last April.
Eala and Liang will take on pair of Hungarian Timea Babos and Russian Valeria Savinykh.
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