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| Alex Eala knocked out former Australian Open semifinalist Dayana Yastremska in a near-flawless performance. |
MANILA—Alex Eala added another grand slam title contender to her list of giant slaying on Thursday by beating Ukrainian opponent Dayana Yastremska, 6-1, 6-2, in the Lexus Eastbourne Open quarterfinals at the Devonshire Park Lawn Tennis Club in Eastbourne, England.
The Filipina tennis standout played a dominant performance against the 2024 Australian Open semifinalist, winning seven straight games midway through the match, four to end Set 1 after Yastremska's lone game win and three more to open Set 2.
Yastremska, whose lone Set 1 win came off breaking Eala's serve, had a chance to turn things around after breaking her opponent's serve twice to draw to within 2-4.
However, Eala broke Yastremska's serve in Game 7 before shutting her down in Game 8 with her own service.
Eala, ranked 74th in the world, caught Yastremska, currently at 46th, on an off day as the latter only won 34 percent of her first serves and 27 percent of her second serves, even as the former broke the latter's serves seven times.
Eala will now face Varvara Gracheva of France in the semifinals on Friday.
Gracheva got a free pass to the Final 4 after reigning Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic withdrew from their supposed quarterfinal duel to rest her injured right thigh.
Krejcikova and Jelena Ostapenko also begged off from their women's doubles quarterfinal match against Maya Joint and Hsieh Su-Wei.
Ostapenko conceded her Round of 16 clash against Eala midway into Set 3 due to an ankle sprain, giving the latter a free ride to eventually pull the stunner against Yastremska.
The Eastbourne Open, a WTA 250 event, serves as a tune-up tournament for next week's Wimbledon event.
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