Eala advances to round of 16 in Abu Dhabi Open singles

Coming fresh from her Philippine Open stint, Alex Eala opened her campaign at the WTA 500 Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open with a composed straight-sets win, dispatching Turkey’s Zeynep Sonmez, 6–4, 6–3, to reach the round of 16, Feb. 2.

The world No. 45 Filipina controlled the tempo for most of the game, overcoming brief resistance to outlast the 79th-ranked Sonmez. 

Eala converted six break points and leaned on her consistency from the baseline to pull away in both sets.

Eala struck first with an early break in the opening set and went up 3–1 before Sonmez clawed back to level at 3-all. 

Unfazed, Eala steadied her serve and reclaimed the advantage, closing out the set with firm returns and patient rallies.

The second set saw Eala surge ahead, 3–0, only for Sonmez to respond with consecutive games. 

At 30-all in the sixth game, Eala produced two timely winners to earn a pivotal break for a 4–2 lead and went on a scoring spree to take the set.

With the win, Eala set up a Round of 16 clash against Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich this Feb. 4.

Eala is also expected to see action in doubles, pairing with Indonesia’s Janice Tjen against Canadian star Leylah Fernandez and former world No. 1 doubles player Kristina Mladenovic on Feb. 3.