ALL gas, no brakes for Alex Eala, who stormed into the quarterfinals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships and lined up a showdown with a very familiar face in world No. 4 Coco Gauff.
The Filipina ranked No. 47 in the world punched her Final 8 ticket at the expense of Romania’s WTA No. 32 Sorana Cirstea, grinding out a 7-5, 6-4 win early Thursday morning, Manila time, to keep her dream run alive.
At 5-all in a tense opening set, Eala found her turning point, breaking for a 6-5 edge to seize her first lead of the match, firing up the crowd, prompting an etiquette reminder from the umpire. She ultimately closed it out, 7-5, to snap Cirstea’s 14-match first-set streak dating back to the Australian Open.
READ: Coco Gauff acknowledges the love from Pinoy fans in Dubai
With momentum fully on her side, Eala shifted into overdrive in the second set, racing to a 4-0 start and dictating rallies with authority as the tide swung firmly in her favor in the match that lasted an hour and 38 minutes.
This sets up a first-time meeting with Gauff on the opposite side. The American is Eala’s former doubles partner at the 2025 Italian Open, where they reached the quarterfinals, and now becomes her 11th career Top-20 opponent.
READ Best players bring best out of Eala. See her record vs world Top 20
Just a day earlier, Eala stunned world No. 8 Jasmine Paolini to advance her quest for her first career title at the WTA 1000 level.
This UAE stint is Eala's sixth tournament this year, following her run semifinal run in Auckland and appearances at the Australian Open, WTA125 Manila, Abu Dhabi Open, and the Qatar TotalEnergies Open.
Eala has now evened her personal head-to-head record versus Cirstea, who beat her in Madrid in 2024.
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