MANILA, Philippines — Keeping her historic Wimbledon run alive, Alex Eala reached the fourth round (round of 16) after dethroning Iga Swiatek, 7-6 (9), 6-2, the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club Center Court Saturday night in Manila.
Becoming the first Filipino singles player to make the last 16 of the grass major, Eala built on a hard-fought first set where she knocked out last year's champ in her fourth set point, taking the opener in 1 hour and 25 minutes after the tiebreak.
World No. 32 Eala raced to a 4-0 second set lead, but No. 3 Swiatek scored back-to-back games before Eala broke the Polish serve and held hers after multiple deuces for the win.
Eala thus took the lead in her head-to-head record against Swiatek, 2-1.
The lefty player also raised her win-loss record against top 10 players to 7-4.
