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| Alex Eala prevailed again against Jelena Ostapenko, although an ankle injury cut the match short. |
MANILA--Alex Eala proved on Wednesday that her previous win over former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko was not a one-hit wonder as the Filipina tennis wunderkind beat the Latvian grand slam winner again, 0-6, 6-2, 3-2 (retired), in the Lexus Eastbourne Open at the Devonshire Park Lawn Tennis Club in Eastbourne, England.
However, the ending was not what everyone wanted as Ostapenko, currently ranked number 20, left the match due to a left ankle injury.
Down 1-3 in the final set, Ostapenko tried to rally back by winning Game 5, but she could no longer hold back the pain and decided to concede.
Ostapenko wanted to get back at Eala after the shocking upset at the Miami Open and started their rematch strong by sweeping the first set.
However, Eala bounced back from the bad Set 1 with a dominant showing in Set 2 to send the match to the decider.
Eala won the first two games before splitting the next two with Ostapenko to go up, 3-1, before the latter eventually decided to rest her injured ankle.
Eala, who entered the WTA 250 event at number 74 in the world, is now projected to go up to 68th place with her biggest win on the grass yet and could even go higher depending on how she performs in one of the last "tune-up" tourneys before Wimbledon.
Eala awaits the winner of the showdown between Dayana Yastremska and Francesca Jones in the quarterfinals.
The match between Jones, the last Great Britain representative left, and Ukrainian opponent Yastremska is ongoing as of posting.
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