After getting some well-deserved rest from her last tournament, Alex Eala finished off another older hometown bet to open her campaign in the 3rd leg of the ITF Rafael Nadal Academy World Tennis Tour in Manacor, Spain.

Eala defeated Spain’s Ana Lantigua de la Nuez, 6-0, 6-2, on Wednesday, February 3 to cruise to the 2nd round of the women’s $15,000 tournament.

The Filipina tennis ace left Lantigua de la Nuez with no answers in the 1st set after breaking serve in the opening point.

But the 20-year-old home bet later challenged Eala as she emerged victorious in the long rally to start the 2nd set.

Eala bounced back with better form and widened the lead to finally close out the match before Lantigua de la Nuez could gain momentum.

The Rafael Nadal Academy scholar will face the winner in the match between tournament No. 1 seed Margot Yerolymos of France and Germany’s Silvia Ambrosio.

This is not the first time Eala will face an event top seed in the pros.

In the 1st leg of the tour, the 15-year-old Filipina tennis sensation pulled off an upset over ITF women’s singles No. 2 Seone Mendez of Australia on her path to her maiden pro title.

Eala clinched her first women’s $15,000 title over 28-year-old Spaniard Yvonne Cavalle-Reimers, which paved the way for her to crack into the top 1000 of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) rankings.

She aimed for a second straight title romp in the tour’s 2nd leg, but fell to Swiss Ylena In-Albon in the quarterfinals.

After kicking off the 2020 season with her maiden Grand Slam title in Melbourne, the teen tennis star became the Philippines’ first junior Grand Slam semifinalist in 35 years in the Roland Garros girls singles tournament. – Rappler.com