MANILA, Philippines – Filipina tennis pride Alex Eala whipped home bet Thanh Lan Truong with a 6-3, 6-2 victory for a good start in her third event this year in the W60 Grenoble qualifying round in France.
Motivated by exits in her first two events in Spain, Eala was on target this time to arrange a second-round duel against Italy’s Stefania Rubini.
The winner gains a ticket to the main draw of the prestigious $60,000 French tilt, where a slew of top-300 players from the Women’s Tennis Association ranking are already seeded.
Eala was booted out in the W25 Manacor third leg last week at the Rafael Nadal Academy in Spain where she’s a scholar.
She pulled out in the second leg due to sickness after falling short in the finals of the first leg qualifiers last month.
Eala’s recent struggles dragged the netter down to No. 587 of the WTA list released Monday from No. 526 to start the year. In France, she's out for a big rebound.
Eala is at No. 12 of the world junior rankings though she’s yet to play in any junior play this year to focus in the women’s professional circuit.