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| Alex Eala fought back from 0-4 down to steal the win from Aliaksandra Sasnovich Richard Esguerra (file photo) |
MANILA—Alex Eala pulled off a comeback for the ages as she recovered from a potential Set 3 sweep to take down Aliaksandra Sasnovich, 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5), in the second round of the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open early Thursday (Philippine Time).
Badly losing Set 1, Eala grinded it out in Set 2 to force the deciding set, but the sold-out crowd thought she was already at her limit when Sasnovich broke her serve twice and raced to a 4-0 lead.
The Belarusian tennis veteran even came close to yet another break point to open a commanding 5-0 lead.
However, Eala fought back to win Game 5 and finally get on the board.
Fans began considering a possible comeback after she broke Sasnovich's serve in Game 6 to cut the lead down to two, 4-2.
Sasnovich broke Eala's serve again to go up, 5-2, and she came close to match point when she took the advantage after a deuce in Game 8.
However, Eala stole Game 8 by scoring the break point and won the next three games to take a 6-5 lead.
Sasnovich ended her slump by winning Game 12 to force the tiebreak.
Sasnovich had another crack to finally finish Eala off with her own serve when she scored off Eala's serve to take a 5-4 lead in the race to seven.
However, Eala won both Sasnovich's last turns to serve to take a 6-5 lead, and with her dictating the tempo of the next rally through her serve, Eala completed the remarkable comeback by clinching the match with the next point.
Eala won even if Sasnovich was ahead in all but two key stats, including five aces and 121 total points won against her opponent's 111.
Eala was more efficient in delivering the first serves, completing 82 first serves against Sasnovich's 78, although the latter had more first serve and first receive points won.
Despite scoring more aces, Sasnovich had more service errors as she committed five double faults against Eala's three.
Eala is scheduled to play two quarterfinal matches back-to-back later Thursday.
The world number 45 Eala will first battle world number 11 Ekaterina Alexandrova in singles action scheduled for a 9 p.m. (Philippine Time) start.
Alexandrova, seeded second in the WTA 500 event, is the highest-seeded player remaining after defending champion and top seed Belinda Bencic pulled out at the last minute due to illness.
Renata Zarazua took Bencic's place only to get smothered by Sonay Kartal, 0-6, 3-6, in their own Round of 16 battle.
Eala will then partner with fellow rising Southeast Asian star Janice Tjen as they take on Cristina Bucsa and Zhang Shuai, the 2-seeds in the doubles division.
