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Alex Eala overcomes a slow start to dispose of Filipina-Aussie Lizette Cabrera in the opening round of the WTA 125 Lexus Ilkley Open in United Kingdom
MANILA, Philippines – It is not often that two Filipinas are featured on the center court of a WTA tournament. On Tuesday, June 10 (Wednesday, June 11, Manila time time), Alex Eala and Filipina-Australian Lizette Cabrera played the last match of the day at the Ilkley Lawn Tennis and Squash Club center court.
The top-seeded Eala overcame a formidable challenge from Cabrera to prevail in straight sets, 7-6 (4), 6-3, in the opening round of the WTA 125 Lexus Ilkley Open in the United Kingdom.
After exiting in the first round of her last three tournaments, the 20-year-old Eala was hoping the ball would bounce more favorably for her in Ilkley. It did not seem that way at the onset of her encounter against the power-serving 27-year-old from Brisbane.
The world no. 206 Cabrera broke Eala’s serve in the 4th game to pull ahead, 3-1, in the first set. But her intentions of breaking away failed to materialize, with the world no. 77 Eala converting her own service break then drawing level in the sixth game. The closely-contested opener went all the way to the tiebreak where Eala jumped the gun on Cabrera by going up 3-0. Cabrera, who went through two qualifying round matches to earn a shot at Eala, staged a comeback to once again even the score at 3-3 and 4-4.
That proved to be Cabrera’s last stance.
Determined to avoid a repeat of her last two tournaments where she dropped the opening set and lost steam in the third set, Eala swept the last three points to gain the upper hand.
A single service break, which happened in the sixth game, proved to be the difference in the second set. Eala extricated herself from a 2-2 standoff when she opened a 4-2 advantage and never looked back. She finished off Cabrera in the ninth game to end the match after 1 hour and 47 minutes.
The match was closer than what the scoreline suggested, with Eala breaking serve just twice and dropping her serve once. The separation was created by Eala’s first serve points won (73% vs 61% by Cabrera) and return points (39% against 29% by Cabrera).
Eala and the full-blooded Filipina Cabrera were familiar with each other’s game, having teamed up for doubles action in 2022 during the ITF W25 Corroios-Seixal in Portugal where they reached the second round. The then 17-year-old Eala was ranked 337th in the world while Cabrera was 194th.
After a rather pedestrian showing during the clay court swing, Alex Eala is hoping fortune would be kinder to her with the arrival of the grass court season.
In her first grass court event last week, Eala could not overcome an early deficit, falling to Linda Fruhvirtova of the Czech Republic, 5-7, 7-6 (5), 1-6 in the first round of the WTA 125 Lexus Birmingham Open.
Eala is looking to get more matches to get her groove in the grass court as she prepares for the year’s third grand slam event, the Wimbledon Championships, which is set to start on June 30. Eala is already guaranteed a spot in the main draw, making her the first player from the Philippines to see action in singles in Wimbledon.
Cecil Mamiit played in the men’s singles main draw of Wimbledon (1999, 2001, 2002), but he was still representing the United States then. – Rappler.com
