Eala is first Filipina to win in Wimbledon
MANILA, Philippines — Another history made for Alex Eala.
The trailblazing Filipina is off to the second round of Wimbledon after asserting her mastery over Renata Zarazua, 6-1, 6-2, early Wednesday morning (Manila time) in London.
With her victory, Eala, seeded 29th in the tournament, became the first Filipina to win a match at Wimbledon in the Open era.
She already became the first Filipina to tally a win in a Grand Slam in the Open era last year, when she defeated Clara Tauson in the opening round of the US Open.
The two tennisters were held in a 1-all deadlock early on, before the Filipina finished off the first set with five straight games, 6-1.
Eala then continued on with her onslaught, winning the first two games of the second set to go up 2-0.
But the Mexican put herself on the board, 1-2, before the World No. 32 pride of the Philippines pounced on the attack with crisp returns, pushing herself to the match point, 5-1.
Zarazua, however, kept herself alive after holding her serve, 2-5.
Eala, though, went for the throat in the eighth game, putting the exclamation point on the win via a beautiful return for the victory after an hour and 17 minutes.
Eala had 22 total winners in the match compared to her opponent’s 11. She also had a strong net play in the match, winning 16 points to Zarazua’s three.
Overall, the 29th-seeded tennister won 64 points to the Mexican’s 41.
Eala will now face either Maya Joint — who defeated the returning Serena Williams — in the next round.
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