MANILA – The Philippines’ Alexandra Eala marched to the Philippine Women’s Open quarterfinals after beating Japanese Himeno Sakatsume, 6-4, 6-0, at Rizal Memorial Tennis Center in Manila on Wednesday night.
Eala, seeded No. 2 in the country’s first-ever WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) 125 event, will be up against fifth seed Camila Osorio of Colombia, who survived Japanese Mai Hontama, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.
“This (victory) was so enjoyable. I am so very happy with the win, of course although the first set was close,” the world No. 49 Eala said. “I am so motivated, and I hope [the Filipino crowd] is just as motivated!”
Meanwhile, Russian Tatiana Prozorova ousted top seed German Tatjana Maria, 7-6 (2), 6-4, to advance against Belgian Sofia Costoulas, a 6-2, 6-4 winner over Chinese Ma Yexin.
Third seed Solana Sierra of Argentina and fourth seed Donna Vekic of Croatia also secured seats to the next round.
Sierra outplayed Yulia Starodubtseva of Ukraine, 6-4, 6-3, to forge a duel with Lanlana Tararudee of Thailand, who prevailed over Polina Kudermetova of Uzbekistan, 6-4, 6-4.
“It’s really nice to see so many people watching our matches,” Sierra said.
Vekic, on the other hand, triumphed over Mariia Tkacheva, 6-1, 6-2, to set up a quarterfinal showdown with Zhu Lin of China, who pulled off a 6-3, 7-6 (5) victory over Mananchaya Sawangkaew of Thailand.
In doubles, American top seeds Quinn Gleason and Sabrina Santamaria struggled past Japanese Hiroko Kuwata and Chinese Qiu Yu Ye, 6-4, 7-5, to reach the semifinals.
Gleason and Santamaria will battle Li Yu-yun Li of Chinese Taipei and Sara Saito of Japan, who eliminated fourth seeds Nicola Fossa Huergo of Argentina and Darja Semenista of Latvia, 7-5, 1-6, 12-10.
Second seeds Eudice Chong of Hong Kong and Liang En-shuo of Chinese Taipei also moved to the semis, beating Mana Ayukawa and Kanako Morisaki of Japan, 6-4, 6-2. (PNA)
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