NEWLY-CROWNED US Open junior girls singles champion Alex Eala crushed Israel’s Shavit Kimchi 6-0, 6-0 yesterday (Wednesday in the US) in the opening round of the W60 Tournament at the Templeton Tennis Ranch in Templeton, California.
In a battle of wild card entries, Eala, 17, dispatched Kimchi in under an hour in the tournament organized by the International Tennis Federation offering a total prize of $60,000 (around P3.5 million).
It was the Filipina teen sensation’s first competition since lifting the US Open junior girls’ trophy last Sept. 11 with a 6-2, 6-4 triumph over Czech No. 2 seed Lucie Havlickova in the final at the USTA Billie Jean Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York.
Eala will next face seventh-seeded Katarzyna Kawa, who subdued Mexico’s Renata Zarazua 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, in the second round, for a spot in the quarterfinals.
Flashing an all-around game, the pretty Pinay southpaw dominated the Mexican in all areas of the match, winning 16 out of possible 18 points on her first serve for a whopping 89 percent average compared to the 32 percent clip (8/25) of her rival.
