Filipina tennis star Alex Eala showed signs of improvement on the clay after claiming her first win on the surface in the 2026 season.
Eala carved out a dominating 6-4,6-3 victory over home bet Julia Grabher in the Linz Open at the Design Linz Center in Austria, Wednesday morning (Philippine time).
The 20-year-old will be facing Latvian and fourth seed Jelena Ostapenko in the round of 16, where the Filipina holds a 2-0 advantage in their head-to-head count.
In 2025, Eala posted an abysmal 2-5 record in the clay season, failing to advance in the second round of the four tournaments that she joined.
Eala is currently ranked world no. 46 after hitting her career-high ranking of no. 29 in March.