Alex Eala went the extra mile as she worked her way up the competition ladder of the 2021 US Open Tennis Tournament girls’ action.
First, Eala earned her place in the singles’ quarterfinal round after pushing away Greece’s Michaela Laki, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, at the USTA Billie Jean King Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York.
Then, Eala teamed up for the first time with Hanne Vanderwinkel of Belgium and fought off fatigue in the girls’ doubles, where they reached the last eight after standing their ground against Laki and Radka Zelnickova of Czechia, 6-3, 3-6, (10-6).
The world no. 2 took the 10th game of the third set of the singles after Eala unleashed a pair of crosscourt volleys, which Laki was not able to retrieve.
It took Eala two-hour, 23-minutes to get past Laki and make it to the quarterfinals against Switzerland’s Sebastianna Scilipoti.
In the doubles, Eala took charge in getting the last three points of the third set super-tiebreak, after holding on to a slim 7-6 lead.
The 16-year-old Filipino slammed in a strong backhand winner past Zelnickova before forcing Laki to a net error.
After that, Eala closed out their hourlong contest with an ace that allowed her and Vanderwinkel to advance to the quarterfinals against Elizabeth Coleman and Madison Sieg of the United States.
Sieg had a memorable stint with Eala back in July when they conquered the girls’ doubles of a Milan Junior Grade A tournament in Italy.
The 18-year-old Sieg and Coleman are coming off a 6-4, 6-4 win over Croatian Petra Marcinko and Hungarian Natalia Szabani.
Two months ago, Eala and Sieg played to a 6-4, 4-6, 13-11 triumph over Lucija Bagaric of Croatia and Belgian Sofia Costoulas in the Milan finals.
