TOP seed Alex Eala displayed the facets of her maturing all-around game yesterday, coasting past Japanese Mei Yamaguchi 6-0, 6-3 and into the singles quarterfinals of the Jingshan Tennis Open in Jingshan, China.
After overwhelming her rival in the first set that lasted just 26 minutes, Eala, 20, ranked No. 58 in the world, was more tactical in the second set, nipping Yamaguchi’s potential comeback in the bud to finally settle the issue after 72 minutes of play at the Jingshan International Tennis Center.
She will be up next against veteran hometown player Lu Jia-jing (No. 349), 35, who took out India’s Rhiya Bathia 6-0, 6-4 in their own second-round match, in a quarterfinal clash scheduled today, Friday.
Eala is gunning for her second WTA title following her triumph in the Abierto Zapopan Open in Zapopan, Mexico, more than two weeks ago, and she looked every inch the favorite in her first-set whitewash of Yamaguchi.
Behind a booming forehand, the Pinay southpaw broke the Japanese right in the first game, surging to a 3-0 lead halfway through the first set in just nine minutes on the way to clinching it after 26 minutes of play.
A right-hander, the pint-sized Yamaguchi looked to have settled down in the second set, relying mainly on her sizzling forehand down-the-line winners in making a fight of it.
After an injury scare two days ago that required a medical timeout in the second set of her opening-round 6-3, 7-5 win over Aliona Falei of Belarus, Eala’s lateral movement seemed to be limited in the second set, declining to chase down balls that were out of reach.
Up 4-1, she suffered her one and only service break in the sixth game at 15-40, opening the door for Yamaguchi to win the next two to threaten at 3-4, holding serve in the seventh after battling through two deuces.
But Eala refused to panic and played it point-by-point to hold serve and regain the initiative 5-3.
Yamaguchi, bent on extending the match, took a 40-15 lead in the final set, only for her foe to fight back to level it 40-40, finally surrendering the set and match after two deuces as she hit a long forehand.
Statistics posted on the WTA website showed that Eala had a superior average in both total service and return points won, converting 23 of 36 service points for a 63.9 clip and 60.5 percent on return points with a 60.5 norm (26/43).
In contrast, Yamaguchi recorded 39.5 percent on total service points won (17/43) and 36.1 percent on total return points won (13/36).
