Philippine tennis ace Alex Eala gains entry into the main draw of WTA 250 tournament Nottingham Open after outlasting Romania’s Anca Todoni.
Alex Eala will be playing in the main draw of the Nottingham Open after successfully making it through qualifiers, beating Romania’s Anca Todoni in three sets, 6-3, 6(4)-7, 6-3, on Monday (PH time).
Eala, 20, made it 2-0 in head-to-head matchups against Todoni, beating the Romanian more than a year after their first meeting in India back in February 2024 when they were still competing in ITF tournaments.
The Rafa Nadal Academy scholar finished off Todoni in a net fest that lasted two hours and 20 minutes, taking the victory after initially failing to close things out in the second-set tiebreak.
Eala looked primed for the sweep when she led in the tiebreak, 4-3, but Todoni unleashed four straight points to drag Eala into a second straight three-setter in the WTA 250 joust.
Not to be deterred, Eala began the third set emphatically, zooming to the early 5-2 lead over Todoni.
While the clay specialist managed to blank Eala in game 8 to pull one back, the Filipina managed to hold her serve in the next game and converted on her first match point to finish off her opponent and claim her spot in the main draw.
Eala, however, faces stiff competition as she is now drawn to face 6-seed Magda Linette. The Pole was previously world no. 19 back in March 2023 and has reached eight singles finals in the WTA, winning three of them.
In 2023, Linette reached the semifinals of the Australian Open.
The main draw match between Eala and Linette is slated for Tuesday.