Alex Eala made quick work of Turkey's Zeynep Sonmez to move one win away from the main draw of the Eastbourne Open.
Alex Eala dominated the opening set before overcoming stiffer competition in set 2, prevailing against Turkey’s Zeynep Sonmez in the first qualifier of the WTA 250 Eastbourne Open on Saturday.
Eala, who will be making her debut at the main draw of Wimbledon later this month, needed an hour and 13 minutes to drub Sonmez, 6-1, 6-3, to forge a duel against USA’s Hailey Baptiste in the second round of qualifiers.
The 20-year-old had to fend off Sonmez’ challenge in set 2 when she got within a game, 3-4, after breaking Eala’s serve in game 6 and holding her own in game 7.
But Eala rebounded with a love game in the next frame to take a 5-3 lead.
In the match-clinching game, Eala needed three deuces to finally finish off Sonmez, marching on in her final warm up tournament ahead of Wimbledon.
However, Eala now faces a bigger challenge en route to the main draw in the form of American hitter Baptiste.
Baptiste is ranked world no. 56 and is the top seed in the qualifying tournament.
She recently reached the fourth round of the French Open — a first in her career — after posting wins over 23-seed Beatriz Haddad Maia, Nao Hibino, and Jessica Bouzas Maneiro.
Eala’s qualifiers match is scheduled at 5:00 p.m. Sunday (PH time).