FILIPINO tennis ace Alexandra “Alex” Eala repeated over American Mary Stoiana, 6-1, 6-2, at the Louis Armstrong Stadium in Flushing Meadows, New York, Wednesday morning in Manila to advance to the US Open second round.
World No. 18 Eala first defeated No. 122 Stoiana at the 2024 ITF 1000 Koser Jewelers Tennis Challenge round of 16, 7-5, 6-2, in Pennsylvania.
Despite being the far superior player two years since their first encounter, Eala talked about how Stoiana made it challenging for her to get this round of 128 win.
“Of course, it was very difficult. Every exchange had its own challenges, especially in the start of the second set. I think she put me in uncomfortable positions,” said Eala in the court interview.
“She’s been having a great run, coming from [qualifiers] in a good past couple of weeks. So, I’m really happy with this match,” added Eala.
The 21-year-old netter enjoyed another de facto home crowd as Filipinos packed the stands.
Trailing 30-40 in the eighth game of the second set, Eala shut down a potential extension by winning three straight games to finish the match in one hour and 19 minutes.
The slow yet tricky serve did wonders for Eala anew, as the lefty won 67 percent (38-of-57) of her service points compared to Stoiana’s 50 percent (23-of-46).
Eala also proved effective in returns with a 50-percent success rate (23-of-46) compared to Stoiana’s 33 percent (19-of-57).
Stoiana’s 26 unforced errors also aided Eala, who had 11 fewer at just 15.
Eala faces world No. 46 Ukrainian Oleksandra Oliynykova in the second round.
Oliynykova topped world No. 425 American Reese Brantmeier in their first-round encounter.
Meanwhile, Eala was elevated to a career-high No. 16 rank with 2,216 points in the WTA live rankings after her first-round win.
