By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Alex Eala pulled off a dominant lopsided beating over Elena Pridankina of Russia- 6.2, 6.2- to advance to the next round of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Guangzhou Open on October 21, 2024, at the Nansha International Tennis Center in China.
Eala was on point from the opening set as she piled up the early points from her signature forehand down-the-line strokes that became her ultimate weapon until the last frame wrapped up.
Despite receiving tons of forehand bombs from Eala, the youngster from Russia still gave her the window of opportunity to fire from the wide side and didn’t make any adjustments to slow down the Filipina’s bread and butter.
Midway through the last period, Pridankina tried to target Eala’s backhand and attacked the net, but with time not on her side, she lost her chance to force another set and could only watch the leftie dominate from the start of their duel.
Eala also had a successful game plan of breaking through the Russian’s strong service game after scoring five total break points in the match.
Pridankina tallied four service aces, but Eala still found a way to send in safe returns when she figured out the spin that could counter the Russian’s flat bomb.
With her service game already neutralized heading into the second set, Eala only had to deal with her quick net setups that helped the Russian gain some confidence.
To answer, the Filipina sent out a series of top-spin lobs that forced the Russian back to the baseline, keeping her confused about the next offensive moves that Eala will be pulling off.
Before reaching the second Guangzhou qualifying match against Pridankina, Eala first bested hometown bet Gao Xinyu in three grueling sets, 6.2, 7.6, 6.2- on October 20, 2024.
