Alex Eala cruised past Lucia Bronzette in their Main Draw match of the WTA 250 Lexus Eastbourne Open, June 23.
A Commanding Win in Round of 32
Eala showed no signs of fatigue against Bronzetti, who had been well-rested since her last outing at the Nottingham Open on June 16.
Despite facing a higher-ranked opponent, the 20-year-old tennis legend from the Philippines has always proven that she can pull off an upset win against them. The Italian ranked No. 61 Lucia was outperformed by the ranked No. 74 Alex right from the get go. She broke Bronzetti three times and did not face a single break point in the first set, which took only 24 minutes.
Final Score of Set 1: 6-0
In the second set, Bronzetti managed to tie it at 1-1, but that was all she could muster. Eala quickly regained control, racing to a 3-1 lead and holding off a late push from the Italian, who fought through multiple deuces but still couldn’t gain any momentum. The Filipina broke Bronzetti for the fifth time in the sixth game, then served out the match to secure one of the most lopsided wins of the tournament so far.
Final Score of Set 2: 6-1
A Hot Start
With the Round of 32 victory, the pride of Quezon City, Philippines, has made it 3 wins in a row for the grass-courts of the Eastbourne tournament.
She won in the 1st round of qualifiers against No. 82 Zeynep Sonmez, then in the 2nd round of qualifiers against No. 56 Hailey Baptiste.
Up Next: Round of 16 Versus Jelena Ostapenko? Or Sonay Kartal?
As Alex gets a one-day rest, in her next match at the Round of 16 will be either Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, seeded third in the tournament and ranked world No. 20, or the British wildcard and ranked No. 49, Sonay Kartal.
A potential clash with Ostapenko would be a highly anticipated rematch; Eala memorably defeated the former French Open champion earlier this year at the Miami Open, 7-6(2), 7-5, during her breakthrough run to the semifinals. That victory marked a turning point in Eala’s season, catapulting her from outside the Top 100 into the WTA Top 75.
The winner in the match of Ostapenko versus Kartal will be announced later this evening, June 24 (Philippine Date and Time).
