Eala breezes past Stoiana in US Open opener, eyes redemption vs Oliynykova

Alex Eala flaunted her form as she ousted American netter Mary Stoiana, 6–1, 6–2, to advance to the second round of the US Open at the Louis Armstrong Stadium in Flushing Meadows, New York, Sept. 1.

The newly-minted No. 17 seed Filipina quickly overwhelmed the Stoiana in their first grand slam meeting, closing out the first-round win in one hour and 18 minutes.

“I want to thank the community here in New York, the tennis fans, not just from the Philippines, who have been making me feel so loved and who are so enthusiastic and contributing to the growth of women’s tennis,” Eala said.

The lefty Filipina revved up her engines right out of the gates, pouncing on her untested American foe’s slow start and unloading aggressive baseline hits to cruise through the first set.

Despite a meltdown in the first canto, Stoiana soon found her footing, capitalizing into her tricky side-court tendencies to force costly mishaps from the Filipina and notch her first lead in the third game.

Eala quickly recovered from her nervy second frame by leaning on her big-match experience to regain momentum around and close out the second set, 6–2, to seal the straight set victory. 

Kicking off her second consecutive US Open campaign on a high note, Eala will face Oleksandra Oliynykova as she looks to avenge her previous loss to the world No. 77.

in the second round and is looking forward to turning in yet another redemption story.

Eala fell to Oliynykova in their first meeting during the opening round of the WTA 500 Strasbourg International in France.