Alex Eala got off to another good start to her first women’s $25,000 tournament of the year.

Eala defeated Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) ranked No. 190 Laura-Ioana Paar of Romania, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, on Tuesday, February 9 in the opening round of the Trophee de la Ville in Grenoble, France.

This is another feat for the 15-year-old Filipina as she edged out Paar, who is 17 years older than her.

Eala came from behind in the opening set as she brought the game to a stalemate at 3-3 before winning 3 straight games.

But Paar’s veteran skills challenged her throughout the rest of the match with only a pair of double faults from the Romanian propelled Eala to 5-4 in the deciding set.

Paar tried to extend the set, but Eala closed it out after two match points.

Eala will now face tournament No. 7 and WTA No. 164 Cristina Bucsa of Spain.

This is Eala’s fourth straight pro tournament as she was given a slot through the International Tennis Federation (ITF) junior player exempt program, where the top-ranked juniors players are allotted a number of pro tournament spots within the year.

Since Eala finished with a year-end world No. 3 ranking in the juniors circuit, she is allowed to join up to 3 $25,000 and 2 $60,000 events this year.

The Filipina tennis ace kicked off the year with a maiden pro title in the ITF Rafael Nadal Academy (RNA) World Tennis Tour in Manacor, Spain.

Her first pro title romp propelled her to the top 1000 of the WTA rankings as she stands at No. 942.

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