MANILA, Philippines -- Filipino tennis ace Alex Eala has won perhaps one of the biggest professional matches of her career, downing world number 41 tennister Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, to barge into the next round of the Mutua Madrid Open.
Tsurenko dominated in the first set, asserting her mastery against the 18-year-old.
In the second set, though, Eala showed nerves of steel.
The 34-year-old Ukrainian tied the set up at 4-all after going down by 0-2 and 2-4 after an error by Eala.
The Filipina, then, won the next two games, tying the match up at 1-1.
The third set saw Tsurenko go up 4-3 as the Asian Games bronze medalist notched a costly error.
However, Eala dug deep and won the next three games capped by an error of the 34-year-old Ukrainian to go into the next round of the tourney.
Eala, who is currently ranked 170th in the world, will face Sorana Cirstea next in the round of 64.
Cirstea is currently the 30th women’s tennis player in the world.
Whoever wins the round of 62 will face either World No. 1 Iga Swiatek or World No. 52 Xiyu Wang.