Who’s gonna stop her?

World No. 53 Alex Eala of the Philippines showed no mercy in bringing down world No. 82 Petra Marcinko of Croatia, 6-0, 6-2, on Thursday to make the quarterfinal round of the Auckland Open at the Manuka Foctor Arena in New Zealand.

Coming off a hard-fought 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Paris Olympics silver medalist and former world No. 17 Croatian Donna Vekic, Eala hardly broke out a sweat in a match that lasted for one hour and two minutes.

For the Rafael Nadal Academy alumnus, everything fell into place as she made quick work of Marcinko, formerly the world No. 1 girls player in the International Tennis Federation (ITF).

Eala made it as high as No. 2 in the ITF rankings but didn’t face Marcinko before the Auckland Open where she snapped the Croatian’s 11-game winning streak stretching back to the W75 Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates last November.

“I’m very happy with the match, different conditions from the night session that I played the other day. Overall, a great level,” Eala said.

“It’s never easy playing against Petra. I think she had great shots, and at one point it became close, but I’m happy pulling off the win.”

Despite having a great game against her Croatian foe, Eala knows the higher she goes in this prestigious Women’s Tennis Association 250 tournament, the harder her opponents will be in the pursuit of her second WTA crown.

Eala will next face former world No. 19 Magda Linette of Poland on Saturday at 7:40 a.m. (Manila time).

“It’s never easy. The further they go, the harder it is to come back. But she kept fighting, and I just had to stay there and be solid,” Eala said.

“I think every start of the year goes differently. New year, new story and I am happy with how I am starting.”

Eala did not mess around in the first set as she won all six games.

Tied at 2-2 in the second set, Eala held her serve in the fifth game before breaking Markovic’s serve in the sixth game as she continued until her victory.

For making it to the quarterfinal, Eala is already assured of $7,025 (P416,000) and a win over Linette in the semis can give her a whopping $12,331 (P730,223).