By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Alex Eala gets another crack at a pro title when she competes in the third leg of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Women’s World Tennis Tour competition in Manacor, Spain this week.
The 15-year-old rising star made it to the 32-player main draw as a junior reserve in this $15,000 tournament hosted by the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar.
She is set to collide with unseeded Ana Lantigua de la Nuez, a 20-year-old Spaniard with a Woman’s Tennis Association (WTA) ranking of 619.
But Eala is riding on morale-boosting finishes in the first two legs where she captured her first pro title in the first leg at the expense of Spain’s Yvonne Cavalle-Reimers, as well as a quarterfinal finish in the second leg.
Like in her first pro title, Eala’s resolve will be tested again after she landed in the upper half of the draw that has top seed Margot Yerolymos of France, No. 4 Camilla Rosatello of Italy, and fifth pick Rosa Vicens Mas of Spain as probable rivals along the way.
In fact, a first-round win for Eala would already arrange her a second-round meeting with the winner between the top-seeded Yerolymos and a still unnamed qualifier.
Eala hopes to further boost her WTA rankings through this tournament after seeing her jump from 1190 to 942 within only two weeks.
