Filipino tennis ace Alex Eala shook off a sluggish start to bring down Kazakhstan’s Zhibek Kulambayeva, 6-3, 6-4, in the Round of 32 of the W50 Indore on Wednesday at the Indore Tennis Club in India.
The 18-year-old netter had a rough opening set after going down 0-2 before finding her rhythm just in time to finish off her Kazakh opponent in one hour and 34 minutes.
Eala, who is currently ranked world No. 184, will take on Russia’s Ekaterina Yashina in the Round of 16 of the $40,000 tourney.
The world No. 613 Russian defeated hometown bet Diva Bhatia, 6-1, 6-2, to advance to the next round.
Eala is wrapping up the second of her two competitions in India.
The Rafael Nadal Academy graduate is coming off a women’s doubles title run in the W50 Pune over the weekend with partner Darja Semenistaja of Latvia.
The pair scored a huge upset of the top seeded duo of Naiktha Bains from Great Britain and Fannin Stollar of Hungary, 7-6, 6-3, in the final.
After her India stint, Eala will fly to the United Arab Emirates for the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open set from 3 to 11 February at the International Tennis Centre in Zayed Sports City.
Former Grand Slam winners Naomi Osaka of Japan and Emma Raducanu of England are expected to compete in the tournament.
