Nadal lauds Eala’s victory over world No. 25
Alex Eala scores the biggest win of her career after stunning world No. 25 Latvian Jelena Ostapenko in the Round of 64 of the Miami Open.
Photograph courtesy of Tennis Channel
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Alex Eala scores the biggest win of her career after stunning world No. 25 Latvian Jelena Ostapenko in the Round of 64 of the Miami Open.
Photograph courtesy of Tennis Channel
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Alex Eala resumed her giant killing ways on Friday (Saturday in Manila) and her 7-6, 7-5 victory over world No. 25 Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia in the Round of 64 of the Miami Open caught the fancy of the great Rafael Nadal.
“Congratulations Alex! What a great win for you and the Philippines,” the Spanish superstar said in his social media post.
It was at Nadal’s tennis academy in Mallorca, Spain, where Eala honed her skills as she prepared to campaign in the lucrative professional ranks.
Eala previously defeated home bet Katie Volynets, 6-3, 7-6, in the round of 128 last Thursday.
The 19-year-old Eala, formerly the US Open juniors champion, swears her latest triumph has pumped her up since she had been eliminated in the same tournament a few times.
“This win means so much to me... It leaves me wanting more,” Eala told ABS-CBN.
“I just had to believe that I could do it and stay there. She is the type of player that can crack winners and can take huge leads. I think the belief in myself was a key in this match.”
Eala faces another tough opponent as she battles Australian Open champion and world No. 5 Madison Keys of the United States on Sunday.
Keys, 30, will be Eala’s biggest challenge after Keys earned a bye in the round of 128 before pulling off a 6-3, 6-3 sweep over Elina Avanesyan of Armenia in the also in Round of 64.
Meanwhile, world No. 2 Iga Swiatek of Poland advanced into the third round after surviving a second set dip to beat Caroline Garcia of France, 6-2, 7-5.
Swiatek had beaten Garcia with ease at the same stage at Indian Wells earlier this month but she faced a little more resistance at Hard Rock Stadium.
Swiatek was 3-1 down in the second set and had to save a set point, when serving at 5-4 down before rallying to win the last three games.
Swiatek lost to Mirra Andreeva of Russia in the semifinals at Indian Wells, with the 17-year-old Russian going on to win the title.
Andreeva is in action later on Friday when she takes on fellow Russian Veronika Kudermetova.
“My energy level got down really fast. So I tried to wake myself up, keep the intensity from the first set, follow through and go for it,” Swiatek said.
On the grandstand court, Britain’s Emma Raducanu showed grit and perseverance to overcome eighth-seeded American Emma Navarro 7–6 (8/6), 2–6, 7–6 (7/4) in a two-hour, 53-minute battle.
