NORTH America may be a long ways away from Manila, but every stop there for Alex Eala just continues to hit home.
After turning heads in the U.S. capital with her maiden WTA Tour title, the Filipina world No. 20 brought the "Eala effect" to her debut at the WTA 1000 National Bank Open.
In front of a sold-out crowd in Toronto on Thursday, the 21 year old announced her arrival by defeating American Alycia Parks, 6-1, 4-6, 6-2, to advance to the third round.
Eala, the 25th seed, earned a first-round bye and was drawn against the American in the second round.
Riding the momentum from her title run in Washington, Eala showed great energy despite having less than three days between tournaments, including travel.
In the deciding set, Eala quickly regained control, racing to a 2-0 lead. Parks responded with a fightback to level at 2-2, but the Filipina wrested momentum back and reeled off the remaining games to close out the match.
Eala had earlier looked in complete command, using an encouraging return game to neutralize Parks' powerful serve en route to a 6-1 opening set. But the American found her rhythm in the second, capitalizing as Eala's level dipped before raising her game from 4-4 to force a decider.
Walk in the Parks
The victory also avenged the pride of the Philippines' fifirst-round loss to Parks at the Australian Open earlier this year.
The Canadian Open is the second stop in Eala's North American hard-court swing ahead of her return to the US Open, the year's final Grand Slam.
She will next face world No. 70 Caty McNally for the first time after the American defeated Czechia's Linda Noskova in the second round.
Before that, however, Eala will first return to the court on Friday morning (Manila time), partnering with Venus Williams in the doubles competition. They will open against Miyu Kato and Liudmila Samsonova.
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