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| Alex Eala moves on to the Last 16 round of Indian Wells after a left-hand injury hampered Coco Gauff in the match. Richard Esguerra (file photo) |
MANILA--Although not the way she wanted to end the match, Alex Eala won for the first time against world number four Coco Gauff in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Center in California on Monday (Philippine Time).
Gauff, who dominated Eala in their first meeting in Dubai nearly three weeks ago, played through a left-hand injury and even broke Eala's serve to take a 2-1 lead in Set 1.
However, Eala won the next seven games to take Set 1 and also race to a 2-0 lead in Set 2.
With the pain already hurting too much, Gauff decided to call it a day and conceded the match.
The win pushed Eala to the Round of 16, where the world number 32 will battle world number 14 Linda Noskova.
Noskova escaped a brave fight from Sorana Cirstea for a 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-4 win in their own Round of 32 battle.
