Alex Eala easily qualifies for W80 France main draw | ABS-CBN

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Alex Eala easily qualifies for W80 France main draw

Alex Eala easily qualifies for W80 France main draw

Rosy Mina

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Alex Eala at the W80 Poitiers in France. Photo courtesy of the IFV86 (Internationaux Féminins de la Vienne) website
Alex Eala at the W80 Poitiers in France. Photo courtesy of the IFV86 (Internationaux Féminins de la Vienne) website

MANILA – Filipino Alexandra “Alex” Eala made it to the main draw of the W80 Poitiers tournament in France by ousting two French players in straight sets in the qualifiers.

The 17-year-old WTA World No. 248, the No. 4 seed in qualifying, beat Diana Martynov and Astrid Cirotte with the same scores, 6-1, 6-2.

In the qualifying second round on Monday, Eala zoomed to a 5-0 lead over the 21-year-old WTA World No. 870 Martynov at the indoor hard court of Comité Départemental de Tennis de la Vienne.

The reigning US Open Girls’ singles champion served for the set in the seventh game, where she saved a break point before claiming the first set, 6-1.

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She opened the second set with a service break and extended her lead to 5-2 with a love service break.

As the Rafa Nadal Academy scholar was serving for the match, she saw off a break point and got past two deuces to prevail on her second match point, 6-2.

Against the 18-year-old Cirotte on Sunday in the first round of qualifying, Eala raced to a 5-0 lead in the opening set and closed it out at 6-1, both achieved via love service holds.

At 2-2 in the second set, Eala fought off four game points to break the serve of the WTA World No. 995.

The 2021 W15 Manacor and 2022 W25 Chiang Rai winner held serve to love with an ace to be at 4-2, and won the next two games for the match victory, 6-2.

In the qualifying draw, Eala improved her 1st Serve In percentage from 57% against Cirotte to 63% versus Martynov, and her 2nd Serve In percentage also increased from 83% in the first round to 95% in the second round.

Although she had zero aces in her second match compared to 3 aces in her first match, she was able to reduce her double faults from 3 to 1.

Meanwhile, in the first round of the main draw, Eala will challenge WTA World No. 167 Jessika Ponchet of France, 26, who beat the Filipino twice this year in straight sets at the W25 Palma del Rio second round and W60 Vitoria-Gasteiz semifinals, both held on outdoor hard courts in Spain.

Eala is also through to the W80 Poitiers doubles draw with WTA World No. 282 Petra Marcinko of Croatia, 16, and they will go up against Yuliya Hatouka and Iryna Shymanovich of Belarus in the opening round.

The W80 Poitiers is the second $80,000 ITF Women’s World Tennis Tour event that Eala has joined since this month’s W80 Rancho Sante Fe in California, where she reached the quarterfinals as a qualifier.

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