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Tennis: Alex Eala gains quarterfinal spot at W25 Aldershot

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Rosy Mina

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Alex Eala at the 2023 W100 Vitoria-Gasteiz in Spain. Alex Eala on Facebook" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/sports/08/18/08182023-alex-eala-at-the-2023-w100-vitoria-gasteiz.jpg"/><figcaption>Alex Eala at the 2023 W100 Vitoria-Gasteiz in Spain. Alex Eala on Facebook</figcaption></figure></div>No. 3 seed Alex Eala, who won her fourth ITF title at the W25 Roehampton on Sunday, succeeded in her singles second-round match then faltered in the doubles semifinals of the W25 Aldershot in Great Britain on Thursday.The 18-year-old Filipino overcame Australian Talia Gibson, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, to reach the quarterfinals against American Jenna DeFalco, the World No. 556 with two ITF titles.Eala, the 248th player in the WTA Rankings, leveled with Gibson at 3-3 via a love service hold.The Australian World No. 338 pulled away to serve for the set at 5-3, but yielded the ninth game with a double fault.The three-time ITF champion then broke Eala back on her second of three set points, 6-4.In the second set, Eala’s 4-2 edge was written off by Gibson as she held and broke for 4-4.Eala, who posted a 6-2, 6-4 win against British wildcard Ranah Akua Stoiber in the opening round, responded with a break to serve for the set at 5-4. <ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/08/17/23/tennis-eala-soars-into-singles-r2-doubles-semis-at-w25-aldershot">Tennis: Alex Eala soars into singles R2, doubles semis at W25 Aldershot</a></li></ul>Nine deuces later, Eala fired an ace to gain advantage then finally clinched the set at 6-4, saving four break points along the way.At 3-3 in the deciding set, Eala broke serve and widened her lead to 5-3 after moving past two deuces.She advanced to 40-15 as Gibson was serving to stay in the match, and Eala broke on her second match point, 6-3, after the Australian netted a forehand.In the doubles semifinals, third seeds Erina Hayashi and Saki Imamura of Japan reigned supreme over Eala and Urszula Radwanska of Poland, 6-4, 6-4.Despite coming back from 0-3, Eala and Radwanska were broken in the ninth game, allowing the Japanese pair to serve for the set at 5-4.Hayashi and Imamura won their lone set point, 6-4, after Radwanska netted a forehand service return.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/08/16/23/eala-radwanska-set-w25-aldershot-qfinal-versus-top-seeds">Tennis: Alex Eala, Urszula Radwanska set W25 Aldershot quarterfinal versus top seeds</a></li></ul>At 2-2 in the second set, the Filipino-Polish duo won the deciding point at deuce courtesy of a forehand overhead winner by the 32-year-old Pole, the sister of former WTA World No. 2 Agnieszka Radwanska.The Japanese players evened the score via a love service hold, and inched closer to victory, 5-3, with a winning backhand drop volley at 40-0.Eala and Radwanska managed to hold at deuce to trail at 4-5, but Hayashi and Imamura went on to earn three match points in the following game.As Eala netted a crosscourt backhand return of serve, the Japanese triumphed to enter the final versus No. 2 seeds Destanee Aiava of Australia and Sarah Beth Grey of Great Britain.En route to the semis, Eala and Radwanska eliminated Andre Lukosiute of Lithuania and Eliz Maloney of Great Britain in the first round, 6-4, 6-4, and defeated British top seeds Emily Appleton and Lauryn John-Baptiste in the quarterfinals, 6-3, 7-5.The W25 Aldershot, which has a total prize money of $25,000, is being held at the Aldershot Tennis Centre.<div>RELATED VIDEO</div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wbaUeKwfLlw?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></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>

No. 3 seed Alex Eala succeeded in her singles second-round match then faltered in the doubles semifinals of the W25 Aldershot in Great Britain.