MANILA – Filipina tennis star Alex Eala advanced to the semifinals of the Lexus Eastbourne Open after defeating Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska in the quarterfinals, 6-1, 6-2 on Thursday evening in Great Britain.
Despite being the underdog against the world No. 42, Yastremska, Eala, ranked 68th in the world, relied on a strong start in the opening set to secure a 6-1 victory.
Eala maintained her momentum in the second set, thwarting Yastremska’s attempts to recover and sealing the win in straight sets.
Eala began her campaign with victories against Turkey’s Zeynep Sönmez (6-1, 6-3) and Hailey Baptiste from the United States (6-7, 7-6, 6-1) in the qualifiers.
Following this, Eala defeated Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti in the opening round (6-0, 6-1) before achieving a come-from-behind walkover victory against Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, 0-6, 6-2, 3-2.
A new challenge awaits the 20-year-old Eala in the semifinals, where she will face another higher-seeded player, Varvara Gracheva from France.
Gracheva advanced to the semis via walkover as her opponent Czech Barbora Krejčíková, the Wimbledon reigning champion, withdrew in their quarters clash due to a right thigh injury./PN
