LIVING up to her top billing, Alex Eala scored a gritty 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 win over upset-conscious Australian Lizette Cabrera for her first grass court season win in the opening round of the Lexus Ilkley Open in West Yorkshire, England early yesterday morning (Tuesday afternoon in England).
Playing at the venerable 145-year-old Ilkley Lawn and Squash Club courts, the top-seeded Eala, ranked No. 77 in the world, dug herself out of a 1-3 jam in the first set then asserted herself in the second to subdue Fil-Aussie Cabrera, world-ranked No. 206, after one hour and 46 minutes of play.
It was an encouraging sign for the pretty Pinay sensation, who had lost in the first round of her last three tournaments, including the Lexus Birmingham Open a week open, a 5-7, 7-6, (7-5), 1-6 upset victim of Czech Linda Fruhvirtova, ranked No. 138 in the world.
For a while, Eala looked headed for another dismal first-round loss after falling behind 1-3 to Cabrera after being broken in the first game, but recovered in winning the fifth and sixth games to level at 3-all.
Cabrera, 27, seemed poised to claim Eala’s scalp by breaking her rival in the 11th after three deuces to go up 6-5, but the Filipina southpaw showed that she was far from over, breaking back in the 12th to send the set to a tie-breaker.
Eala took an early 3-1 lead only to see her rival rally to tie the count at 4-all before Cabrera committed three successive miscues in yielding the first set.
The match was close early in the second set with the count at 2-all after four games before Eala won the next three, breaking Cabrera in the seventh one, to go up for a commanding 5-2 lead.
She broke the Fil-Aussie again in the ninth after one deuce, Cabrera hitting a wide backhand to finally succumb to her feisty Filipino foe.
Eala’s second-round opponent today is Swiss qualifier Alexa Ryser, who beat Japanese Sara Saito 6-4, 6-0 in the first round.
