Rain stops Eala's Guadalajara Open second round match

MANILA, Philippines — Massive rain halted Alex Eala’s thrilling back-and-forth marathon against Varvara Lepchenko of the United States in the second round of the WTA 125 Guadalajara Open Thursday in Mexico.

The 20-year-old Filipina Eala was holding to a 3-2 lead when the officials stopped the game set to be rescheduled early Friday (Manila time). The match was at two hours and 56 minutes before the suspension.

Lepchenko, 39, escaped with a 7-6 (7-3) win in the first set before Eala returned the favor, 7-6 (7-3) in back-to-back tiebreakers with similar scores.

At stake for Eala, WTA No. 75, and the No. 122 Lepchenko is a seat in the quarterfinals of the 64-player, $125,000 tourney against No. 280 Nicole Fossa Huergo of Italy.

Huergo stunned No. 118 and seventh-seeded Katarzyna Kawa of Poland, 6(2)-7, 6-0, 6-1, in their own second-round match.

Eala, who dispatched World No. 187 Arianne Hartono of the Netherlands, 6-2, 6-2 in the first round, is now the highest-seeded player in the 64-strong field at No. 2.

Top-seeded and World No. 65 Kamilla Rakhimova of Russia got the early boot in Round 1 against No. 130 Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva, 6-1, 7-6(2).

Eala has the momentum on her side in Mexico after a historic stint in the US Open, where she became the first Filipina winner in any Slam main draw after upsetting world No. 15 and 14th-seeded Clara Tauson, 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (13-11) stunner of world No. 15 and 14th-seeded Clara Tauson. 

Eala, who will also play in the main draw of the Sao Paulo Open in Brazil next week, then bowed to Cristina Bucsa of Spain in Round of 64, 6-4, 6-3.