Alex Eala through to quarterfinals of French tourney
ALEX EALA carved out a gritty 7-6(5), 6-4 win over Zeynep Sonmez of Turkey to barge into the quarterfinals of the W60 Nantes tournament in France.
Ms. Eala, who won two bronze medals in the Asian Games last month, clawed back from massive deficits in each set to frustrate her sixth-seeded foe and arrange a duel against No. 3 seed Leolia Jeanjean of France for a seat in the Final Four.
Ms. Jeanjean, Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) No. 135, also scored a 6-4, 7-6(3) win over Francesca Curmi of Malta in another quarterfinal pairing.
Unseeded in the elite $60,000 tourney and up against a higher-ranked opponent, Ms. Eala did not back down from the challenge against WTA No. 163 Ms. Sonmez by erasing 1-4 deficits in the first and second set behind her sharp service game and crisp counterattacks.
Ms. Eala’s biggest breakthrough came in the first set as after forcing a tiebreaker, she unleashed a 3-1 closeout from a 4-all deadlock to complete the comeback that was followed by another come-from-behind feat in the second set.
Ms. Eala, the WTA No. 193, uncorked a 5-0 rally in the second to win in an hour and 32 minutes.
The 18-year-old took care of business against home bet Amandine Hesse, 6-3, 6-2, in the opening round to make up for her early exit in doubles play.
Ms. Eala and Indonesian partner Jessy Rompies absorbed a 6-1, 3-6, 6-10 (tiebreak) loss against Ekaterina Maklakova and Ekaterina Reyngold of Russia in the first round. — John Bryan Ulanday
