ALEX Eala finally overcame Tereza Valentova with a valiant 6-4, 7-6 (9-7) victory in the round of 16 of WTA250 Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open on Thursday.
Forced to a tiebreak by her foe from Czech Republic, the Filipina rising star was in her element as she raced to a 5-0 lead.
However, the world no. 85 did not go down without a fight, taking six of the next seven as Eala bungled three match points.
Valentova, though, sent the ball out to give Eala her fourth match point before the Filipina lefty sent the ball down the line in this exhilarating one-hour, 56-minute affair.
"Laban," remarked Eala. "It was really, really tough. Tereza played incredibly and we brought the match to a high level and it's reflected in the scores. I'm so happy I got that one."
Up next for Eala will be world no. 81 Antonia Ruzic of Croatia in the quarterfinals.
Ruzic earlier beat Wang Xinyu of China, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, in their round of 16 matchup.
It's a sweet victory for Eala who got the monkey off her back after losing in her past two meetings against Valentova, the last being a 7-6, 6-1 defeat in the first round of the Qatar Open this season.
And she made sure this time, things would be different as she avoided a sweep and dealt one of her own.
Eala lost grip of a 4-0 lead in set one and saw the game tied at 4-all deadlock, but got her act together by taking the next two games, including a dominant 10th game to clinch set one.
She also showed great resolve in set two, rallying back from a 5-3 deficit and strung three straight games to go up 6-5 before Valentova forced the tiebreak.
In total, Eala earned 18 winners and saved four break points as she also won 69-percent of her first serves, while also taking advantage of Valentova's 28 unforced errors.
Eala is now assured of USD7,025 from the prize pot and earned 54 ranking points for reaching the quarterfinals.
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