No. 6 seed Alex Eala of the Philippines reached her fourth quarterfinal of the season at the W40 Palma del Rio in Spain with a 6-3, 6-1 victory on Thursday over fellow teenager Talia Gibson of Australia.
The 18-year-old Filipino and 19-year-old Australian battled it out for one hour and 10 minutes on the outdoor hard court of Asociación de Tenistas Palmeños – Polideportivo.
Eala, the World No. 261 on the WTA Rankings, earned three break points in the third game after Gibson committed a double fault.
The Rafa Nadal Academy graduate and defending US Open Juniors singles titlist broke serve to love for a 3-0 lead.
WTA No. 377 Gibson replied with a love service break followed by a service hold at deuce to trail at 2-3.
Eala advanced to 5-2 after holding serve to love then breaking serve on her first of two break points in the seventh game.
After Gibson broke back, Eala served for the set at 5-3 and gained two set points.
Eala, who posted a 6-3, 6-2 ouster of 16-year-old wildcard Lorena Solar Donoso of Spain in the opening round, took the first set, 6-3, on her second set point.
The Filipino and Australian, who each have three ITF women’s singles championships, carried on in the second set which Eala dominated with a 5-0 edge.
Eala broke for 2-0 courtesy of a Gibson double fault, overcame two deuces for 3-0, and held serve from 0-30 to be at 5-0.
Gibson finally got on the scoreboard after holding serve at deuce, but it was too late as Eala went on to serve for the match at 5-1.
After yielding her first match point due to a double fault, Eala claimed the win on her second opportunity, 6-1, to arrange a quarterfinal clash with WTA No. 243 and third seed Valeria Savinykh of Russia.
The 32-year-old quarterfinalist is a nine-time ITF women’s singles winner and former World No. 99.
The W40 Palma del Rio or Open Generali Ciudad de Palma del Río, which offers $40,000 in prize money, has been scheduling matches late in the evening.
Eala’s matches on Monday and Thursday were held at 10 p.m., and the two-time junior grand slam doubles winner commented on this in a video interview hosted by the tournament.
“I loved the atmosphere,” Eala said after her first-round triumph. “I think it’s not all the time that I get to play in the night.”
Last year, Eala competed for the first time at the W25 Palma del Rio where she was ousted in the singles second round by No. 2 seed Jessika Ponchet of France.
Eala had a better finish in the doubles draw with Spaniard Marina Bassols Ribera as the No. 4 seeds posted a semifinal finish against top seeds and eventual winners Savinykh and Fanni Stollar of Hungary.
