Eala starts hot in Birmingham Open singles

Sports

OUSTED in the doubles competition, Alex Eala got off to a rousing start in the singles by thrashing Priscilla Hon, 6-0, 6-2, in the first round of the Birmingham Open in Great Britain on Tuesday, June 2 (Philippine time).

The dominant win came after Eala and partern Nikola Bartunkova were eliminated in the doubles via a 4-6, 6-2, 9-11 loss to Harriet Dart and Maia Lumsden last Monday night.

Eala was able to quickly regroup, easily beating the Australian Hon to advance to the second round of the WTA 125 tournament.

The world No. 37 Eala will next face lower-ranked Alina Charaeva, who defeated Greet Minnen in their own Round of 32 duel, 6-3, 6-1.

The Eala-Charaeva duel will be on Thursday (Philippine time), June 4.

The Russian Charaeva is ranked no. 130.

Eala is competing on grass courts again after a fruitless campaign in a series of clay-court competitions.

Against Hon, Eala was simply dominant. After a one-sided first set win, Eala threatened to blank Hon in the second frame when the Filipina tennis star raced to a 5-0 lead.

Hon avoided a bagel after breaking Eala in the sixth game to make it 1-5. Hon held her serve in the seventh game to further cut the deficit, 2-5, but that proved to be her last stand as Eala won the eighth game to finish off her 28-year-old opponent.(CCM)