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Alex Eala survives a battle of nerves against American Hailey Baptiste, who reached the fourth round of the French Open this year, to advance to the main draw of the Eastbourne Open in England
MANILA, Philippines – Alex Eala has claimed another top 100 victim.
Eala secured a spot in the main draw of the WTA 250 Lexus Eastbourne Open by surviving a battle of nerves versus world No. 56 Hailey Baptiste, 6-7 (1), 7-6 (4), 6-1, in the last round of the qualifiers at the Court 2 of the Devonshire Park Lawn Tennis Club in England on Sunday, June 22.
In a match that lasted 2 hours and 47 minutes, Eala proved to be sturdier as she dominated a gassed Baptiste in the deciding set.
The third set was in stark contrast of the first two sets, which both went to a tiebreak.
Baptise, 23, sent a strong message by racing to a 3-0 lead in the opening set, and although she saw Eala pull level, the American stamped her class in the tiebreak, winning 7-1.
It was Eala’s turn in the driver’s seat for most of the second set even as Baptiste kept up at every step.
The 20-year-old Eala had a number of chances to end the set when she held set points at 5-4 and 6-5, but Baptiste held on to force a tiebreak. Eala, however, zoomed to a 5-1 lead in the tiebreak before eventually winning at 7-4.
Eala came prepared for an opponent seeded first in the qualifying rounds. Baptiste was also running with a ton of confidence after making the fourth round of the French Open earlier this month, her best showing in a Grand Slam event.
But that was not enough to dampen Eala’s resolve to make the main draw of one of the two final pre-Wimbledon events, the other being the WTA 500 Bad Homburg in Germany held on the same dates as the Eastbourne Open.
The victory over Baptiste was a fitting follow-up to Eala’s dominant display on Saturday, when she blasted her former doubles partner Zeynep Sonmez of Turkey, 6-1, 6-3, in the opening round of the qualifiers.
This is the second straight week that Eala advanced to the main draw of a WTA 250 competition as she seeks to have more matches on grass to boost her preparations for the Wimbledon Championships set to begin on June 30.
She reached the main draw of the Lexus Nottingham Open last week but fell in the first round. – Rappler.com
