ALEX Eala narrowly avoided the upset axe yesterday afternoon, working hard past pesky Polish Katarzyna Wawa 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 in the rain-delayed opening singles match of the Suzhou Open WTA 125 in Suzhou, China.
In a match that began at noon but ended nearly at 5 o’clock due to intermittent rain, Eala, ranked No. 58 in the world and seeded fourth in the tourney, rediscovered her killer instinct at the critical moment against the upset-conscious Wawa (No. 124) at the Sungent International Tennis Center.
Given a second chance to serve out the match, the pretty Pinay southpaw finally made the most of it, clinching match point at deuce in the 12th game as her rival netted a forehand, prompting Wawa to lie on her back groaning in defeat after two hours and 27 minutes of intense action.
Eala’s second-round opponent will be Belgian Greet Minnen (No. 146), who swept Chinese Han Shi 6-4, 6-0 out of the tournament that offers 125 WTA ranking points and a top purse of $8,400 (around P487,939).
Flashing a fiery forehand and with determined aggression, Eala dominated the first set, wrapping it up in just 39 minutes and taking a 1-0 lead.
Riding the momentum of her dominant opening set, Eala was 15-0 ahead in the fifth with the count at 2-2 when a sudden heavy downpour forced play to be halted for more than an hour.
The right-handed Wawa regained her composure and, armed with a solid baseline game and a sizzling forehand, surged to a 5-3 lead before finally clinching the second set in the ninth game after battling through two deuces.
Risking another meltdown, Eala regained the initiative, going up 3-1 after breaking Wawa in the opening set, only for her foe to valiantly fight back to deadlock the count at 3-all, countering with a service break in the sixth game.
After two more ties, the last at 5-5, the Filipina netter gained a crucial service break at 15-40 in the 11th as her Polish foe began with a double fault, her 11th and last.
Sensing blood and with the opportunity to serve out the match, Eala stormed to 30-love and 40-15 leads but the desperate Wawa refused to wilt and forced deuce, saving two match points on a long Eala forehand.
But Ela countered with two crushing forehand winners to gain the advantage, with Wawa finally yielding after a long rally with a weak forehand that failed to sail over the net.
