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Eala reaches the third round at Roland Garros
Dante Navarro (The Philippine Star) – October 7, 2020 – 12:00 am
MANILA, Philippines – Second seed Alex Eala withstood a major scare from Germany’s Mara Guth, battling a tough loss in the second set and overcoming a 3-4 deficit in the decider to overcome a 6-1, 5-7 , 6-4 victory and breaking into the third round of the junior tournament of the French Open at Roland Garros yesterday.
Facing elimination, the 15-year-old wonder Pinay leaned on her big fighting heart to break her rival in the eighth game of the third frame. He held serve in the next before keeping up his momentum and breaking Guth again to complete the comeback victory in two hours and 12 minutes.
Victory in the rain-delayed match lined up World No. 4 against Leyre Romero of Spain, who dispatched Russian D. Shnaider, 6-3, 7-5, on his side of the duel in the lower half of the 64- player tie.
Eala, who coaches at the Rafa Nadal5 Academy and winner of the Australian Open in women’s doubles earlier this year with fellow Indonesian Priska Nugroho, kicked off her campaign with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Hungarian Natalia Szabanin.
The reversals actually spoiled the top draw when local bettor Oceane Babel knocked out No. 6 Kamilla Bartone of Latvia, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5, and Russia’s Julia Avdeeva defeated No. 11 Linda Fruhvirtova of the Czech Republic, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, to advance to the third round.
For a while, Eala seemed poised to join the sidelines as she struggled with her shots against Guth’s big comeback in the second frame after a dominant run in the first set.
The duo traded breaks in the first five games of the tension-filled second frame until the German held serve in the sixth game to go 4-2. Eala struck back after holding serve and breaking his rival in the eighth, but Guth took the disputed set with two breaks and a held service against Pinay’s only serve break.
Guth went 4-3 in the deciding match in a hold-break game in the sixth and seventh games, but Eala proved far from the end, putting up a stronger rope and sweep of the next three games to achieve the great escape.
Eala is also scheduled to compete in the doubles tournament with her American partner Elvina Kalieva, and the third-placed pair will face Italians E. Alvisi and L. Pigato in the first round.
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