ALEX Eala stood her ground early yesterday, reasserting her mastery over Spain’s Alba Carillo Marin 6-3, 5-7, 7-5 at the start of the $25,000 Platja D’Aro women’s singles event in Platja D’Aro, Spain.
Unlike their two previous encounters, Eala was made to sweat for three hours before finally prevailing over her feisty Spanish foe, who was bidding to break a two-match losing streak to the Pinay tennis phenom.
Now ranked No. 662 in the Women’s Tennis Association ratings, Eala will be up next against another hometown bet in Irene Burillo Burillo Escorihueta, ranked No. 271, who stunned seventh-seeded Swiss Simona Waltert 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 in the opening round.
Marin led 2-0 in the first set only for Eala to reel her back in to knot the count at 2-all before winning the six of the next eight games.
Relying on her steady baseline game, the Spanish netter won the war of attrition in the grinding second set, trying the match at one set apiece.
With neither player giving an inch in the deciding set, Eala and Marin fought through several deadlocks, the last at 5-all until the former gained a pivotal service break in the sixth match then held serve in the next to wrap up the marathon match.
Eala, who achieved a milestone by reaching the semis of the French Open junior tournament last year, was back on the court last night as she teamed up with Russian Selekhmeteva to face the top-seeded Russian duo of Vlada Koval and Sofia Lansere in the women’s doubles quarterfinals. — Bong Pedralvez
