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Alex Eala advances to W60 Madrid singles Round 2, doubles quarterfinals

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Rosy Mina

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Alex Eala of the Philippines at the 31st Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam in May. Photo courtesy of the Vietnam Tennis Federation" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/sports/06/14/20220614-alex-eala.jpg"/><figcaption>Alex Eala of the Philippines at the 31st Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam in May. Photo courtesy of the Vietnam Tennis Federation</figcaption></figure></div>MANILA – Alex Eala of the Philippines scored twin victories at the W60 Madrid tournament in Spain on Tuesday to advance to the second round in singles, and the quarterfinals in doubles. WTA World No. 413 Eala, 17, eliminated 18-year-old qualifier Lia Karatancheva of Bulgaria, 6-4, 6-4.Their opening round match at Club Deportivo Brezo Osuna saw a 2-2 deadlock after a love service hold by Eala. A forehand error by Karatancheva allowed Eala to hold serve for a 4-2 lead, and a backhand return of serve error by the Bulgarian caused the Filipino to hold and take the first set, 6-4. Eala marched on in the second set, 3-1, courtesy of a service winner, then proceeded to be at 5-3 after Karatancheva committed a backhand error in response to Eala’s serve.Serving for the match at 5-4, Eala secured a match point, 40-30, by aggressively firing a forehand cross-court winner.Karatancheva returned Eala’s second serve with a backhand error, causing the Filipino to clinch the win, 6-4.In the second round on Wednesday, Eala will face No. 11 seed Daniela Seguel of Chile, 29, who got a bye in the first round.Eala, who has won the W15 Manacor and W25 Chiang Rai singles titles, teamed up with En Shuo Liang of Chinese Taipei, 21, for the doubles draw of the $60,000 tournament. They ousted wildcards Marta Huqi Gonzalez Encinas of Spain and Vasanti Shinde of India in the first round, 6-2, 6-1, to reach the quarterfinals. Eala and Liang won their opening game with an ace, and soared to a 5-1 lead after Gonzalez Encinas and Shinde shanked a forehand into the net.They were broken in the seventh game while serving for the set as the Spanish-Indian pair saved three set points and won the game with a swift backhand winner.Brushing off their missed opportunities, Eala and Liang broke serve and took the first set, 6-2, after their opponents hit a volley error.Eala and Liang saved two break points in the third game then broke serve to be at 3-1, thanks to Liang’s forehand down-the-line return of serve winner.They widened their lead to 4-1 with an ace, then broke to love in order to serve for the match at 5-1.At 40-30, a long return by Gonzalez Encinas and Shinde sealed the match in favor of Eala and Liang, 6-1.In the quarters scheduled also on Wednesday, Eala and Liang will challenge No. 4 seeds Timea Babos of Hungary and Valeria Savinykh of Russia.Eala, a Rafa Nadal Academy player and two-time junior doubles grand slam champion, also competed in singles and doubles at the W25 Madrid tournament in Ciudad de la Raqueta last week.The recipient of the International Tennis Federation Grand Slam Player Development Programme posted quarterfinal finishes in her singles and doubles stints.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/06/10/22/tennis-alex-eala-ousted-in-w25-madrid-quarters">Tennis: Alex Eala ousted in W25 Madrid quarters</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/05/19/22/sea-games-ph-earns-bronze-in-tennis-mixed-doubles ">SEA Games: Alex Eala, Treat Huey claim mixed doubles bronze</a></li></ul><div>RELATED VIDEO</div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1705416" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

Eala scored twin victories at the W60 Madrid tournament in Spain on Tuesday to advance to the second round in singles, and the last 8 in doubles. 