FILIPINO tennis ace Alexandra "Alex" Eala seeks her 10th win against top 10 players as she faces world No. 10 Amanda Anisimova of the United States in the third round (round of 32) of the WTA 1000 Cincinnati Open in Ohio.
World No. 20 Eala holds a 9-4 win-loss record against top 10 players.
Aiming for her sixth straight victory against top 10 players, 21-year-old Eala takes on 24-year-old Anisimova either Monday night or early Tuesday in Manila.
As of writing, the order of play for Monday's matches had not been revealed yet.
Eala advanced to the third round after dispatching world No. 77 Elena-Gabriela Ruse, 6-1, 3-0 (ret.) early Sunday in Manila.
The Philippine bet won 8 of her last 9 matches.
On the other hand, 4-time champ Anisimova defeated world No. 50 Zeynep Sönmez, 6-2, 6-3, to set up her first encounter against Eala.
Eala's last encounter against a top 10 player was against world No. 3 Jessica Pegula at the 500 Mubadala DC Open final two weeks ago.
Eala topped Pegula, 4-6, 6-4, 6-0, for her first Tour-level title.
After falling to world No. 2 Elena Rybakina at the Italian Open third round, 4-6, 3-6, last May, Eala started her winning run with a payback win against the same player at the Berlin Open second round, 7-5, 6-4, on June 18.
Eala made it back-to-back with a victory over then world No. 8 Elina Svitolina in the Berlin quarterfinals, 6-3, 6-4, on June 20.
Eala picked up her third straight win against a top 10 player in the Wimbledon third round, where she defeated then world No. 3 and defending champ Iga Swiatek, 7–6(9), 6–2.
Eala repeated over world No. 10 (now world No. 9) Svitolina in Mubadala DC quarterfinals, 6-3, 6-4, before getting her fifth straight at Pegula's expense.
