Alex Eala dispatches Yasmine Mansouri, advances to SP Open Round of 16

Alex Eala opened her SP Open campaign with a win against Yasmine Mansouri of France, 6-0, 6-2, in the Round of 32 on Wednesday morning (Philippine time) in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

The match, which the world No. 61 dominated, lasted only an hour and 10 minutes.

It took Eala nine straight games before the 24-year-old French player claimed her first game. The 20-year-old Filipina then bounced back, but Mansouri, ranked world No. 380, managed to win another game to briefly delay Eala's victory. 

Eala and Mansouri went neck-and-neck in the 13th game of the match before the former closed it out to take a 5-2 lead. Eventually, Eala claimed the set to take her first victory in South America.

"This is my first time in Brazil and my first time in South America, actually, so I’m so happy to see that the crowd is so lively," Eala said in an interview.

"I didn’t expect so many people to come out and watch me play. I guess I was a bit lucky to be sandwiched in between two great Brazilians, so I’m just happy to be here and to be able to play well," she added, referring to the matches of Laura Pigossi before her and top seed Beatriz Haddad Maia afterward.

The win also came just days after Eala captured her first WTA 125 title at the Guadalajara 125 Open.

Eala will face Julia Riera of Argentina, ranked world No. 188, in the Round of 16 on Thursday.

The SP Open is a WTA 250 event which is part of the main WTA tour.

—JKC, GMA Integrated News