September 4, 2025 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — Second-seeded Alex Eala reasserted her mastery of world No. 187 Arianne Hartono of the Netherlands, 6-2, 6-2, for a rousing debut within the 2025 WTA125 Guadalajara Open yesterday in Mexico.
On a excessive after a historic US Open stint, the WTA No. 75 Eala blitzed to a 3-1 lead within the first set then unleashed a 4-0 ending kick within the second from a 2-2 impasse to wipe out her 29-year-old foe in little over an hour of play.
Eala now holds a 4-0 head-to-head benefit over Hartono since their first assembly in 2023 when the Filipina ace scored a 7-6, 2-6, 6-1 win within the W25 Roehampton in Nice Britain.
Eala then repeated within the W100 Bengaluru in India, 6-2, 6-1, and within the Workday Canberra Worldwide in Australia, 6-3, 6-3.
Up subsequent for Eala is No. 122 Varvara Lepchenko of the US who swept Maddison Inglis of Nice Britain, 6-4, 6-1.
Eala, who will play in Sao Paulo, Brazil subsequent, is contemporary from a breakthrough US Open marketing campaign highlighted by a 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (13-11) stunner of world No. 15 and 14th-seeded Clara Tauson.
She ran out of steam in Spherical of 64, taking place to a 6-4, 6-3 defeat to Cristina Bucsa of Spain – a setback that might not dampen her feat because the first-ever Filipina winner in any Grand Slam fundamental draw.
