September 5, 2025 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — Large rain halted Alex Eala’s thrilling back-and-forth marathon duel with Varvara Lepchenko of the USA within the second spherical of the WTA 125 Guadalajara Open yesterday in Mexico.
The 20-year-old Filipina was holding a precarious 3-2 lead within the deciding set when the officers suspended the sport set to be rescheduled early right now. The match was at two hours and 56 minutes.
Lepchenko, 39, escaped with a 7-6 (7-3) win within the first set earlier than Eala returned the favor, 7-6 (7-3) in back-to-back tiebreakers.
At stake for Eala, WTA No. 75, and the No. 122 Lepchenko is a seat within the quarterfinals of the 64-player, $125,000 tourney towards No. 280 Nicole Fossa Huergo of Italy.
Huergo surprised No. 118 and seventh-seeded Katarzyna Kawa of Poland, 6-7 (2/7), 6-0, 6-1, in their very own second-round match.
Eala, who dispatched world No. 187 Arianne Hartono of the Netherlands, 6-2, 6-2, within the first spherical, is now the highest-seeded participant within the tourney at No. 2.
Prime seed and world No. 65 Kamilla Rakhimova of Russia acquired the boot in Spherical 1 towards No. 130 Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva, 6-1, 7-6 (7/2).