FILIPINO tennis sensation Alex Eala overcame a gutsy stand by upset-conscious Russian veteran Ekaterina Yashina 7-6 (7-1), 6-7 (4-7) yesterday to advance to the quarterfinals of the ITF W50 Indore tournament in Indore, India.
Eala earlier opened her campaign with a breezy 6-3, 6-4 triumph over Kazakhstan’s Zhibek Kulambayeva the other day and seemingly would have no problem at the start against the Russian, who ranked a lowly No. 683 in the Women’s Tennis Association ratings in contrast of her career-high of No. 183.
After narrowly losing the first set at 6-7 (1-7), the Russian turned the tables on her youthful third-seeded Filipina foe in giving her taste of her own medicine 7-6 in extending the match to a deciding third set.
But this was where Yashina lost steam as Eala stepped it up a notch, reeling off six straight games in finally settling the issue after two hours and 39 minutes of play on court 2 of the tournament organized by International Tennis Federation offering a total pot of $40,000 (around P2.245 million).
