Eala dumps Dutch rival

Alex Eala scored a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Lian Tran of the Netherlands to move into the Round of 16 of the W100 Vitoria-Gasteiz women’s singles Wednesday at the Peña Vitoriana Tenis Club in Spain.

Eala, 19, remains in hot pursuit of her fifth professional title.

The match lasted for one hour and 10 minutes as the No. 155 Women’s Tennis Association netter flexed enough muscle to get the job done.

“Happy to come back on hard with a win!” Eala said.

She is competing against home bet Lucia Cortez Llorca as of press time.

In the women’s doubles, Eala teamed up with Estelle Cascino of France for a 6-3, 6-2 win over the Spanish tandem of Julia and Carolina Gomez in the Round of 16 last Tuesday.

Eala and Cascino only needed 56 minutes to win the match as they advanced to the quarterfinal.

The Filipino-French duo are going up against Victoria Bervid of the Czech Republic and Laura Mair of Italy in the quarterfinal as of press time.

Eala last won a doubles title in France at the W74 Croissy-Beaubourg last March as she and Cascino toppled French netter Jessika Ponchet and British partner Maia Lumsden, 7-5, 7-6, in the final.