There seems to be no stopping Alex Eala from going deep in the Eastbourne Open as she plays in the Round of 16 at the Devonshire Park Lawn Tennis Club in Great Britain.

As of writing, the 20-year-old Eala is still waiting for the winner between home bet Sonay Kartal and French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia.

Eala defeated Lucia Bronzetti of Italy, 6-0, 6-1, in the Round of 32 last Monday.

The Rafael Nadal Academy graduate needed one hour and one minute to get rid of her Italian foe and move onto the next round.

Prior to the Eastbourne Open, Eala competed in three grass tournaments, the Birmingham Open, Ilkley Open, and the Nottingham Open, to get a better feel of the grass courts.

Eala’s best run in the grass court so far this year was at the Ilkley Open where she made it as far as the quarterfinal before losing to Rebecca Marino of Canada, 1-6, 6-0, 6-7 last 13 June.

The No. 74-ranked netter could find herself colliding with Jelena Ostapenko should the stars align. Eala stunned the Latvian, 7-6, 7-5, during their Miami Open Round of 64 clash last March.

Eala’s win over the Latvian, currently the fourth best player in the world, sparked her magical run where she would go as far as the semifinal.

Eala is using the competition as part of her preparations for the Wimbledon Championships on 30 June at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.

She is poised to enter the main draw for Wimbledon, her second Grand Slam tournament as a professional tennis player as she is within the Top 100 of the Women’s Tennis Association rankings.

Meanwhile, top seed Daria Kasatkina was dumped out on Monday by Lulu Sun, while Brazilian rising star Joao Fonseca secured his first grass court win in the men’s event.

New Zealander Sun, who reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon last year as a qualifier, again raised her game on the grass to oust the defending champion, 7-5, 2-6, 6-3.

In swirling conditions, there were a number of momentum shifts as Sun leapt into a 4-0 lead before Kasatkina reeled off five straight games in the first set.

Sun had to save a set point at 5-4 down before closing out the set with three straight games.

The Australian fought back to level after winning five straight games in the second.

But one break in the decider was enough for Sun.

“I really enjoy playing on grass,” Sun said in her on-court interview. “It’s a really unique time of the season.”

Two-time Wimbledon finalist Ons Jabeur of Tunisia also suffered an early exit to Australia’s Maya Joint, 7-5, 6-2.

In the ATP event, Fonseca recovered from blowing three set points in the opener to beat Belgian Zizou Bergs 6-7 (8/10), 6-0, 6-3 and set up a second-round meeting with defending champion and top seed Taylor Fritz of the USA in round two.

The 18-year-old became the youngest men’s player to win a match at Eastbourne since three-time champion Fritz in 2015.

“I am very happy to win my first match on grass, here in Eastbourne, in such a nice place and against a very good player,” Fonseca said.

“After a tough tie-break, getting through mentally is very good. I am very happy for this one.”

British wild card Daniel Evans defeated Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, to set up a meeting with second seed American Tommy Paul.