A TANTALIZING, mouth-watering encounter with world No. 1 and defending champion Aryna Sabalenka awaits Alexandra Eala should the Filipina tennis star reach the fourth round of the US Open.
Eala is in the same bracket with the 27-year-old Belarusian whose No. 1 ranking is under siege from No. 2 Iga Swiatek and No. 3 Coco Gauf, one of whom can take away the honor by winning the final grand slam of the season.
Eala, however, will need to overcome a few perils before she and Sabalenka meet, assuming the top seed and Eala beat their next two opponents. But there’s more at stake, important for both: a quarterfinals berth.
COLUMN Salamat kay Eala, EJ at Yulo, pataas ang tingin ng mundo sa Pinoy
But first, Eala must overcome Spain’s Cristina Bucsa in their second-round match tonight, a meeting that will surely be one of nerve-wracking intensity as the result will have a significant impact on both players’ determination to advance.
While Bucsa may appear to be the underdog, ranked 95th in the world against Eala’s 75th, there is nothing easy or predictable in this major tournament. Proof are the scores of seeded scalps scattered all over at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York where the tournament is being held.
One of them belongs to Clara Tauson, the 14th seed eliminated by the unseeded Eala in the first round.
That is a confidence builder, not a reason to be careless or overconfident. And if Bucsa’s previous result is an indication, Eala should be cautious. Bucsa annihilated American qualifier Claire Liu, 6-2, 6-1, in 82 minutes in the first round.
On the other hand, Eala had to summon everything in her arsenal to beat Denmark’s Clara Tauson, the world No. 14, to survive the 2 hour, 36-minute match, 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (11).
But because Eala had beaten a higher-ranked opponent, a betting site, which uses various modern techniques and simulations, has picked her to be the likely winner.
“We have simulated the outcome of Wednesday’s Bucsa-Eala match 10,000 times,” said data analyst Greg Butyn of Dimers, the betting site.
“With the latest updates and numerous other variables, we estimate Alexandra Eala’s chance of winning at 55%, with Cristina Bucsa at 45%.”
If the prediction holds, Eala’s next opponent is likely to be Elise Mertens of Belgium, at 29 a veteran of many tennis wars. She has 10 career tournament wins in her hat.
In the first round, the 19th seed, destroyed qualifier Alyssa Ahn of the US, 6-1, 6-0, in 66 minutes.
Mertens is biggest hurdle
Mertens could be the biggest hurdle for Eala if she hopes to play Sabalenka. But despite Merten’s impressive record, she will unlikely intimidate the 20-year-old Filipina who has displayed extraordinary courage and resilience against the best of them.
She has beaten major champions, among them Swiatek, Madison Keys and Jelena Ostapenko. If they eventually meet, perhaps the odds are against Eala, but as her past record shows, that’s when she thrives.
But first things first: she must beat Bucsa.
Let’s go, Alex!
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