MANILA, Philippines — Alex Eala overcame a tough challenge from clay-court specialist and home bet Julia Grabher, 6-4, 6-3, at the Design Linz Center in Austria to enter the WTA 500 Linz Open second round early Wednesday in Manila.
Kickstarting her clay season and making her tournament debut, the Filipino tennis ace held serve in the final game to finish the match in one hour and 42 minutes.
Eala forges a round of 16 match against former French Open titlist Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia.