Eala stays sizzling hot

Alex Eala remained red-hot on Friday after scoring a 7-5, 7-5 victory over hometown bet Lucia Cortez Llorca to enter the quarterfinal round of the W100 Vitoria-Gasteiz at the Peña Vitoriana Tenis Club in Spain.

Eala, 19, rated No. 155 in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), got the job done after two hours and seven minutes.

Eala is currently facing off with Ukrainian Yuliia Starodubtseva, No. 123 in the WTA rankings, at press time as she seeks her fifth singles title in her professional career.

In the women’s doubles, Eala and Estelle Cascino of France pulled off a 6-4, 6-1 win over Victoria Bervid of the Czech Republic and Laura Mair of Italy to enter the women’s doubles semifinal.

The Filipino-French tandem only needed 59 minutes to advance to the next round and stay in the hunt for the doubles crown.

Eala and Cascino are going up against Maria Jose Portillo Ramirez of Mexico and Noelia Zeballos Melgar of Bolivia as of press time.