MANILA – Alex Eala of the Philippines knocked out No. 7 seed Yvonne Cavalle-Reimers of Spain in the third round of the W60 Madrid tournament, 0-6, 6-2, 7-5, to get to the quarterfinals of a $60,000 ITF event for the first time in her career.

The come-from-behind victory is her second upset in the tournament, following her 6-1, 6-2 thrashing of No. 11 seed Daniela Seguel of Chile in the second round.

It is also Eala’s second win over Cavalle-Reimers, whom she overcame in 2021 with a comeback win at the W15 Manacor final to bag her maiden professional title.

Their rematch on Thursday at the Fernando Granero outdoor hard court of Club Deportivo Brezo Osuna, which ran for 2 hours and 15 minutes, proved to be another nail-biting episode.

WTA World No. 273 Cavalle-Reimers, 30, immediately gained a 3-0 lead after WTA World No. 413 Eala, 17, netted a forehand.

Eala was able to force the fourth game into deuce, but Cavalle-Reimers retained control of the first set, taking it at 6-0 with an angled backhand cross-court winner.

The Filipino shrugged off her bagel-set loss by breaking in the fourth game of the second set to be at 3-1.

A double fault, however, allowed the Spaniard to break back to trail at 2-3.

Eala then minimized her errors to claim the next three games, all courtesy of backhand errors by Cavalle-Reimers, and force a decider, 6-2.

In the third set, Cavalle-Reimers advanced to 2-0 after Eala hit a forehand into the net.

The Filipino teen caught up, 2-2, with a service hold and a pivotal break in the fourth game, which went to seven deuces.

Cavalle-Reimers broke back and extended her lead to 5-3, thanks to a long backhand by Eala.

A love service hold from Eala followed, and she equalized with a break of serve, 5-5, after Cavalle-Reimers netted a backhand.

Eala proceeded to 6-5 with a solid service game, then earned three break opportunities in the 12th game, which were also match points.

Cavalle-Reimers was able to save two match points, but Eala fought on to snare the win on her third chance, 7-5, after the Spanish committed a forehand error.

In the quarterfinals on Friday, Eala will challenge WTA World No. 182 and No. 3 seed Jaimee Fourlis of Australia, 22.

Eala kicked off her singles campaign with a 6-4, 6-4 win over qualifier Lia Karatancheva of Bulgaria, 18, in the first round.

Meanwhile, in the W60 Madrid doubles draw, Eala’s run with En Shuo Liang of Chinese Taipei ended in the quarterfinals.

Eala, a Rafa Nadal Academy player, has two professional singles titles under her belt: the 2021 W15 Manacor and 2022 W25 Chiang Rai.

In her Southeast Asian Games debut in Vietnam in May, she took home three bronze medals from the singles, mixed doubles, and women’s team events.

• Tennis: Alex Eala upsets No. 11 seed to reach W60 Madrid 3rd round
• Alex Eala advances to W60 Madrid singles Round 2, doubles quarterfinals

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