Alex Eala reaches main draw of WTA Jasmin Open
MANILA, Philippines – For the sixth time in 2023, Alex Eala will be playing in the main draw of a Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) event.
Eala prevailed over 2020 French Open girls’ singles champion Elsa Jacquemot of France, 6-1, 5-7, 6-1, in the final qualifying match of the Jasmin Open on Sunday, October 15, at the Magic Hotel Skanes hard court in Monastir, Tunisia.
In the first round of the qualifiers on Saturday, October 14, Eala made short work of 19-year-old Feryel Ben Hassen of Tunisia, 6-1, 6-0.
The 18-year-old Eala, 194th in the world, jumped the gun on the 20-year-old Jacquemot, breaking serve twice to race to a 5-0 lead in the opening set.
Jacquemot, who reached the second round of the 2022 French Open and made the main draw of the 2023 US Open, avoided a bagel by holding serve in the sixth, but it proved to be a momentary reprieve as Eala closed out the one-sided first set in the very next game.
The second set turned out to be a totally different story.
Eala appeared poised to once again pull away when she seized the lead at 3-2.
The No. 172 Jacquemot, though, broke Eala for the first time in the sixth game then held serve after to go up 4-3 before she won three of the next five games to force a deciding set.
Eala made sure not to allow Jacquemot to get into the match the rest of the way. From a 2-1 advantage in the decider, Eala pocketed the next four games to finally get payback three years after getting beaten in straight sets by Jacquemot in the French Open girls’ singles semifinals.
Eala will be doing dual duty in this $250,000 WTA event as she also sees action in the doubles event.
To open the main draw, Eala will be facing second seed Elise Mertens of Belgium, a former world No. 1 doubles player.
Mertens is currently 41st in the world in the singles rankings and made the fourth round of the French Open and the third round of both the US Open and the Australian Open. She has won doubles titles in the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open.
Eala will be partnering with Oana Gavrila of Romania in the doubles event, where they are slated to face second seeds Cristina Bucsa of Spain and Bibiane Schoofs of the Netherlands in the opening round. – Rappler.com