Alexandra Eala’s Italian Open campaign began with victory against Magdalena Frech on Wednesday.
Eala, who has been handed a difficult draw in the Italian capital, defeated the Polish player 6-0, 3-6, 6-4 in the Nicola Pietrangeli Stadium.
After defeating Frech, the 20-year-old will play Chinese star Xinyu Wang in the Italian Open second round.
How far can Alex Eala go at the Italian Open?
She's into the second round!
Eala is also set to take part in the women’s doubles event. The Filipina confirmed her participation while speaking to Filipina media on Wednesday.
Alex Eala is set to play doubles with Hailey Baptiste
“Yes. Well, I signed up [laughing],” Eala said while in conversation with Filipino journalist Dyan Castillejo on ABS-CBN News.
“I signed up with Hailey Baptiste but I don’t think the draw came out yet.”
Eala has participated in doubles events on five occasions so far this year.
In January, Eala and fellow youngster Iva Jovic reached the ASB Classic semi-finals before losing to Xu Yifan and Yang Zhaoxuan.
Two weeks later, Eala and Ingrid Gamarra Martins were knocked out of the Australian Open in the first round.
In February, Eala teamed up with Indonesian player Janice Tjen. The pair were defeated by fourth seeds Tereza Mihalíková and Olivia Nicholls in the last four.
A month later, Eala again paired with Iva Jovic – this time in Indian Wells.
The pair were unable to emulate their run in New Zealand, losing in the first round to Jelena Ostapenko and Hailey Baptiste.
The Filipina’s most recent doubles outing occurred in Madrid. Eala teamed up with Zeynep Sonmez, and the pair reached the second round.
Alex Eala reacts to beating Magdalena Frech
“I think I’ve come a long way from last year,” Eala told ABS-CBN. “So yeah, it really means a lot because I think my team and I have really been working the past few weeks.
“And I think that we’ve been able to put out just some things that we’ve been working on in competition,” said Eala.
“I’m really proud of myself because there were so many moments, especially in the third set, where she could’ve gone really far.
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The Filipina later previewed her contest with Wang, describing the Chinese player’s serve as ‘killer.’
“She’s a great player and a really great person. I think she’s super fun to be with. But she’s got a killer serve, killer ground strokes, very fit. And I think it will be a good match. It will be a good fight,”
If Eala defeats Wang, she could play Elena Rybakina in the Italian Open third round.
