Alex Eala reaches Eastbourne Open semis with another dominant win

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Alex Eala makes quick work of Ukraine's Dayana Yastremska to make the last four of the Eastbourne Open, marking the second time she reached a WTA semifinals

MANILA, Philippines – Playing in extremely windy conditions against one of the hardest hitting players in the women’s tour, Alex Eala played it smart and with variety. The result was another stunning display of dominance by the Filipina tennis ace.

The 20-year-old Eala barged into the semifinals of the WTA 250 Lexus Eastbourne Open after a comprehensive beatdown of Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska, 6-1, 6-2, on Thursday, June 26, at Court 1 of the Devonshire Park Lawn Tennis Club in England.

The 25-year-old Yastremska has been on a roll on grass and has one of the most impressive records so far this season. She finished runner-up in the WTA 250 Nottingham Open the previous week and defeated Poland’s Magda Linette, who eliminated Eala in the same tournament, twice over the last two weeks.

All these did not daunt Eala, who went about her business like she was a young woman on a mission.

The world No. 77 from the Philippines accomplished a rarity in their quarterfinal tussle by not allowing Yastremska to hold serve the entire match.

Unlike in her win the previous day against former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia when she got shut out in the opening set, Eala firing from the get-go and grabbed a 2-0 lead with a service break in the second game.

Even as the world No. 42 Yastremska countered with her own service break to pull within 1-2, Eala maintained her poise and swept the next four games to end the first set in just 26 minutes. 

Any hopes of another deep run by the 2024 Australian Open semifinalist from Ukraine was immediately doused with cold water by Eala, who raced to a 3-0 lead in the second set.

The closest Yastremska ever got was at 2-4 when she broke Eala for the third time in the sixth game, but the Filipina immediately got the game back with her own service break before she closed the match on her serve in the seventh.

The match was all over after just 1 hour and 6 minutes. 

Eala will make the second WTA semifinal appearance of her career on Friday, June 27, when she faces former world No. 39 and current world No. 111 Varvara Gracheva of France.

Like Eala, Gracheva went through the qualifying rounds of the Eastbourne Open and has strung together five straight wins.

Eala will take confidence from her match last week against Gracheva in the Nottingham Open qualifiers when she prevailed over the 24-year-old French-Russian, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. – Rappler.com