EVEN taller tasks await Alex Eala, as her early fairytale run at the WTA500 Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open rolls into the quarterfinals on Thursday night.
The world No. 45 will lock horns with second seed Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia, ranked 11th, in what marks the first-ever meeting between the 20-year-old Filipina and the seasoned 31-year-old hitter.
Alexandrova marched into the last eight in ruthless fashion, crushing world No. 43 Dayana Yastremska, 6-3, 6-0, after enjoying a first-round bye in the round of 32.
READ: How Eala willed herself to three-set, three-hour comeback win
Eala, on the other hand, took the longer and more winding road to the quarters. She opened her campaign with a composed 6-4, 6-3 win over Turkey’s Zeynep Sonmez before digging deep to outlast Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich, 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(5).
But wait, there's more
And the Filipino ace won’t be done just yet.
Eala returns to court later in the evening for doubles action, teaming up once more with Indonesian Janice Tjenn.
The first-time pairing, fondly referred to as 'SEAsters', faces yet another challenge in the form of the second-seeded duo of Zhang Shuai of China and Cristina Bucsa of Spain.
Both matches are slated for Thursday night, with the singles quarterfinal scheduled not before 9:00 PM, followed by the doubles clash not before 11:00 PM.
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