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| Alex Eala dominated her homecoming match. Joseph Sanvictores |
MANILA--Alex Eala won her first tennis match back home since her childhood days, beating Alina Charaeva, 6-1, 6-2, to cap Day 1 of the Philippine Women's Open main draw on Monday night at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.
Eyeing some sort of payback after losing to Charaeva back in 2020, Eala dominated Set 1 and finished off with a lady's sweep.
Charaeva had a huge chance to surge ahead in Set 2 after she broke Eala's serve to go 2-0 up, but the latter won the next six games, capping the match with a sweep of Game 8, to preserve the straight-set win.
Eala will meet a Japanese opponent in the Round of 16 on Wednesday, but the said opponent will only be determined on Tuesday when Nao Hibino and Himeno Sakatsume face off.
