The 18-year-old Eala thumped 22-year-old qualifier Gabriella Da Silva Fick of Australia, 6-3, 6-4, on Wednesday, August 9, in the opening round of the singles competition of the Roehampton W25K GB Pro Series in Great Britain.
Eala broke away from what initially was a tight contest by bagging three straight games to go up 5-2 en route to a breezy first-set win.
The Filipina teen tennis star then offset a service break in the second set by breaking Fick twice to cruise to a comfortable victory.
A few hours later, Eala was back on court at The National Tennis Centre in Roehampton for doubles action. She teamed up with Destanee Alava of Australia to defeat Julie Belgraver of France and Ella McDonald of Great Britain, 7-5, 6-2.
The unseeded winning pair, though, will have a tough hurdle in the quarterfinals as they are slated to face top seeded Aussies Talia Gibson and Petra Hule on Friday.
Eala will also seek a quarterfinal spot in the singles competition of the $25,000 ITF event, where she will go up against her doubles partner Alava at 7 pm on Thursday, August 10, Philippine time. – Rappler.com
