Eala repeats over Paar

MANILA, Philippines — Alex Eala repeated over old foe Romania’s Laura-Ioana Paar, 6-7 (6), 6-1, 6-0, and rolled to the third round of the W60 Bellinzona in Switzerland late Wednesday night.

After dropping a first-set grind, the 15-year-old Filipina gathered herself and bamboozled Paar for a repeat of her conquest of the WTA No. 206 Romanian in their faceoff in W25 Grenoble in France last February.

At press time, Eala was facing another familiar foe in hometown bet Simona Waltert.

Against Paar, Eala refused to sulk after throwing away a 3-1 lead in the first set.

Tough in long rallies with her booming groundstrokes, Eala built momentum early in the second set and refused to slow down as she secured the second-round win in two hours and 15 minutes.

Playing in her first W60 tourney after a WTA debut in Miami Open last month, Eala the other day announced her arrival in style with a 7-6 (6), 6-2 first-round victory over France’s Margot Yerolymos.

Also the world No. 3 in the ITF Juniors, Eala has proven her worth in six pro outings so far this year including a breakthrough title in W15 Manacor in Spain last January.