Alex Eala reached the main draw of the Women’s Tennis Association 250 Thailand Open after a 6-2, 7-5 victory over Kristina Dmitruk of Belarus in the second round of qualifiers in Hua Hin, Thailand on Sunday, 29 January.
The 17-year-old scholar of the Rafael Nadal Academy only needed one hour and 19 minutes to dispatch the Belarusian netter to make it into the tournament proper which begins tomorrow.
Eala’s opponent for the main draw has yet to be announced.
She previously defeated Xinyun Han of China, 6-1, 7-6, in the first match of the qualifying round.
She made it into another WTA main draw after being part of the Miami Open last year where she exited early after a 2-6, 1-6 loss to Madison Brengle of the United States.
The No. 214 in the latest WTA rankings is also looking to bounce back after an early exit in this year’s Australian Open after a 6-4, 6-7, 3-6 loss to Japan’s Misaki Doi in the first round of the qualifiers.
Eala is gunning for her third professional title after winning the W15 Manacor in Spain in 2021 and the W25 Chiang Rai last year in Thailand.
The farthest the Southeast Asian Games bronze medalist has gone in a WTA tournament was at the Round of 16 in the WTA 250 Winners Open in Cluj-Napoca in Romania in 2022.
