ALEX Eala showed she is a tough nut to crack, pulling off a gutsy win to advance to the quarterfinal round of the WTA 500 Abu Dhabi Open in the United Arab Emirates on Thursday (Philippine time), Feb. 5.

Eala battled back from a 0-4 deficit in the deciding set to defeat Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich in their Round of 16 match, 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7).

With the win, the world No. 45 Eala arranged a quarterfinal duel with Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova, who easily defeated Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska in their own Round of 16 match, 6-3, 6-0.

Alexandrova is seeded No. 2 in the tournament and is currently ranked No. 11 in the world.

Eala and Sasnovich fought for two hours and 51 minutes. For a while, Sasnovich, ranked No. 109 in the world, looked ready to boot the Filipina tennis star out when she raced to a 4-0 lead in the deciding set.

Sasnovich even erected a 5-2 cushion before Eala stormed back to pull ahead, 6-5. Sasnovich did not give up easily, forcing a tiebreak by tying the count at 6-all. That proved to be Sasnovich’s last stand as she fell into a maze of service errors, allowing Eala to escape with the hard-earned win.(CCM)

• Tags
• #Alex Eala
• #WTA 500 Abu Dhabi Open
• #United Arab Emirates
• #quarterfinals
• #Aliaksandra Sasnovich
• #Belarus
• #Ekaterina Alexandrova
• #Russia
• #Dayana Yastremska
• #Ukraine
• #tennis
• #world No. 45
• #world No. 11
• #world No. 109
• #Round of 16
• #Filipina tennis player
• #tenn