Alex Eala picked up a 6-1, 6-2 win over home bet Catherine Aulia in the first qualifying round to kick off her campaign in the Workday Canberra International women’s singles Sunday at the Canberra Tennis Centre in Australia.

Eala, 19, only needed one hour and 13 minutes to get past her Australian foe and advance to the next round.

The Rafael Nadal Academy graduate hopes to advance to the main draw of the competition before the end of the year.

Eala is using this tournament to boost her bid for the Australian Open, which starts on 9 January.

She is also slated to finish the year within the Top 150 netters as she is in No. 148 in the latest Women’s Tennis Association rankings.

In the second qualifying round, Eala will face the winner between Australian netter Alana Subasic and Giorgia Pedone of Mexico, who are competing at press time.

The two-time Asian Games bronze medalist is also slated to team up with Sayaka Ishii of Japan in the Round of 16 of women’s doubles as they face off against Elsa Jacquemot of France and Marina Stakusic of Canada.

Eala’s recent singles title was back in July when she won the W100 Vitoria-Gasteiz in Spain while her latest doubles title was with Estelle Cascino of France in the same tournament.