Eala routs Dutch, enters Guadalajara Open 2nd round

(UPDATE) FOR the fourth time in as many matches, Alex Eala had Arianne Hartono’s number.

The Filipino tennis ace dominated the Dutch netter, 6-2, 6-2, at the Centro Panamericano de Tenis’ Grandstand Caliente to enter the Guadalajara Open second round in Mexico Wednesday morning (Manila time).

Seeded second in this WTA 125-level tourney, Eala held serve in the eight game of the second set with Hartono’s return that failed to cross the net, sealing the Filipino’s round of 32 win in one hour and 10 minutes.

Alex Eala AFP PHOTO

This marked the third time World No. 75 Eala beat No. 187 Hartono for this year, with the first two wins coming in last January.

Eala defeated Hartono at the Canberra 125 round of 16 in Australia, 6-3, 6-3, on Jan. 1 and repeated over the latter at the W100 Bengaluru in India, 6-2, 6-2, on Jan. 22.

The 20-year-old Eala first battled 29-year-old Hartono in August 2023, scoring a 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-1 win in the Roehampton 2 semifinal in Great Britain.

Eala went on to defeat Aussie Arina Rodionov, 6-2, 6-3, in the final to claim her fourth professional singles title.

Marching to the round of 16 of this Mexico tiff, Eala, sporting a career-best 56th rank, faces American and World No. 122 Varvara Lepchenko on Thursday.

Lepchenko topped Aussie and World No. 141 Maddison Inglis in the first round, 6-4, 6-1, also on Wednesday.

A 2012 London Olympian, Lepchenko, 39, returned to competitive tennis back in 2023 after a near two-year ban for testing positive for banned substances.

Born in Uzbekistan and became a naturalized American citizen in 2011, Lepchenko reached a career-best WTA ranking of 19th back in October 2012.

She hasn’t won a WTA title yet but found success in the ITF women’s circuit with 13 titles.