 |
| Alex Eala prevailed in her first clay match of the year. Richard Esguerra (file photo) |
MANILA--Alex Eala prevailed in her first match on a clay court this year by beating Julia Grabher, 6-4, 6-3, in the first round of the Upper Austria Ladies Linz Open early Wednesday (Philippine Time) at TipsArena in Linz, Austria.
Eala, ranked 46th in the world, seized control of Set 1 after securing a break point right in the final game of the set.
She then scored two more break points early in Set 2 to take a 4-1 lead.
Grabher tried to mount a comeback after taking Game 6 off a service break, but Eala held her serves in the end to secure the straight-set victory.
Eala prevailed despite three Grabher aces as the former had the better first serve rate at 60 percent and more service points won, 53-35.
Up next for Eala is another showdown against world number 23 Jelena Ostapenko.
Eala won their first two meetings, but those came outside the clay court where Ostapenko once reigned supreme, being the French Open champion in 2017.
