Eala downs Croatian foe, reaches semis in France tiff

MANILA, Philippines — Alex Eala continued her deep run in the W80 Poitiers in France, winning her quarterfinal against Croatia's Ana Konjuh on Friday.

Buoyed by big wins over Top 150 players, Eala dumped Konjuh, 6-2, 6-3, in just an hour and 15 minutes.

The 17-year-old jumped to a 4-1 lead early in the opening set. Though Konjuh held her serve in Game 6 to inch one game back, 2-4, Eala won back-to-back games to take the early advantage.

In Game 8, Eala pounced on a misfiring Konjuh from the service line as she committed two double faults in the set-clinching game win.

It was a tighter affair in Set 2 when Konjuh blanked the Filipina with a love game to tie the set at 3-all.

But Eala managed two tight game wins in a row, including taking the break point in Game 8, 5-3, to push Konjuh against the wall.

Eala, who made it into the main draw through the qualifiers, will face the winner of the other quarterfinal between Ysaline Bonaventure and seventh seed Oceane Dodin in the semifinal.

Eala is looking for her third title in the pro circuit in singles.