Alex Eala of the Philippines got back at Wang Xinyu of China, 6-4, 6-3, in the second round (round-of-64) of the WTA 1000 Italian Open at the Stadio Pietrangeli Court in Rome Friday evening (Manila time).
The victory not only avenging her semifinal loss to the world No. 33 Wang at the ASB Classic semifinal in New Zealand last January, Eala also earned valuable points to catapult her at No. 37 in the live WTA rankings from her current No. 42 standing.
Her next opponent could be No. 2 Elena Rybakina, who will face No. 47 Maria Sakkari late Friday evening.
Against Wang on Friday, Eala came back from a 0-3 first set deficit and displayed her crisp shot on clay court to remain in contention.
Eala clinched the match in one hour and 26 minutes after firing a serve that Wang could not handle as she returned it too strongly, causing the ball to sail outside.
