Eala crushes Aussie in Birmingham

Posted by ReyFort Media

LIVING up to her billing as the top seed, Alex Eala crushed Australian Priscilla Hon 6-0, 6-2 last night (Tuesday in Europe) in the women’s singles opening round of the Lexus Birmingham Open at the Edgbaston Priory Club in Birmingham, England.

Shrugging off her doubles’ loss with Czech partner Nikola Bartunkova the previous day, Eala was in fearsome form and flirted with a double bagel victory over the outclassed Hon until she lost some of her focus in the second set to allow the Aussie briefly back into the game.

But the pretty Pinay southpaw quickly got her groove back after losing the sixth and seventh games to serve out the set at 40-love in the eighth, putting away her opponent with a sizzling backhand crosscourt winner to end the match in 59 minutes.

Now ranked No. 37 in the world, Eala will await the winner of the match between Belgian Greet Minnen and Alina Charaeva of Russia as her second-round opponent today in her first grass court meet, a WTA 125 tournament, of the season. (B. Pedralvez/ Malaya)