NINGBO — World No 20 Alex Eala ended her losing streak in emphatic fashion with a dominant 6-3, 6-1 victory over 34th-ranked Diane Parry in the opening round of the hard-court Ningbo Open, the WTA 500 tournament in China.
The 21-year-old Filipina recovered from an early 2-1 deficit after Parry held her opening two service games, winning 11 of the next 13 games to dismantle her 24-year-old French opponent in their first-ever meeting. Eala converted six of nine break points and lost serve once in each set. Afterwards she said: “I’m very happy with my performance. I think it was a really good first round, tough first round. Diane is a great player. I think she’s had a really good year, so congrats to her for the year she’s done, and really happy to be in the second round.”
The victory was Eala’s first since her quarter-final win at the Asian Games and her first tour-level triumph since her second-round win at the US Open, having arrived in Ningbo after a shock 6-4, 3-6, 3-6 first-round defeat to Chinese qualifier Han Shi at the WTA 1000 event in Wuhan last week. Paying tribute to her supporters, the Quezon City-born star added: “Thank you so much for the support. It really makes my job very fun, even in the difficult moments, so I’m really happy to be here.”
Eala, who is aiming to win her second WTA Tour title after securing her maiden crown at the 500 event in Washington DC in August, will face either world No 13 Diana Shnaider or world No 66 Yulia Putintseva in the second round, with their opening match set for Tuesday. Should she advance to the quarter-finals, she could meet fourth seed and world No 12 Iva Jovic, who beat her in the third round of the US Open last month.