ALEX Eala made it to the US Open girls’ singles quarterfinals for the second straight year early morning yesterday (Wednesday night in the US) with a well-earned 6-2, 7-6 (6-1) win over No. 8 seed Taylah Preston of Australia in Flushing Meadows, New York.
After breezing through the first set, Eala rallied from a 1-4 deficit in the second set and eventually won in one hour and 31 minutes at Court 9 of the USTA Billie Jean King Tennis Center.
Seeded No. 10, the 17-year-old southpaw had earlier cruised past Canada’s Annabelle Xu 6-3, 6-0 in the opening round then eliminated Slovakia’s Nina Vargova 6-2, 6-3 in the second round.
With still enough gas in the tank, Eala teamed up with Russian Mirra Andreeva later and whipped the American wildcard tandem of Shannon Lam and Iva Jovic 6-2, 6-2.
Eala will face her Russian doubles partner, who is seeded No. 14, in the quarterfinals today.
They will later team up anew to face the German tandem of Carolina Kuhl and Ella Seidel in the second round of the girls’ doubles.
Eala buckled down to work early in the opening set against Preston, 15, zooming to a 5-1 lead after trading service breaks in the first two games.
Preston proved to be a tougher customer in the second set, breaking her rival in the third game for a 4-1 edge.
But Eala showed resiliency by winning the next four games to seize the upper hand 5-4 before the Aussie reeled in one set back to make it a 5-all match.
They traded service breaks once again to extend the match to a tiebreak where Eala found her groove, winning six straight points to settle the issue.
