Alex Eala survived a grueling battle against Greet Minnen of Belgium, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 7-5, on Wednesday to reach the quarterfinals of the Suzhou Open WTA 125.
Eala, seeded fourth, closed out the marathon round-of-16 match in three hours and 18 minutes after breaking Minnen’s serve for the first time in the deciding set. The Filipino tennis ace struggled to shake off Minnen, who pulled even five times in the third set before Eala strung together back-to-back games to secure the win.
It marked Eala’s second straight long outing in Suzhou. She also needed three sets to beat Katarzyna Kawa of Poland in her opening-round match on Tuesday. Eala raced to a 3-0 lead in the first set, but that proved to be the largest gap for either side as the opening two sets went down to tiebreaks.
In the first-set tiebreak, Eala rallied from a 4-2 deficit, pulled even at 5-all, then won the next two points to take the set.
Eala is seeking a deeper run in Suzhou after her semifinal exit in last week’s Jingshan Tennis Open, where she lost to eventual champion Lulu Sun.
The current World No. 58 faces Viktorija Golubic in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Eala is eyeing a second WTA 125 crown after winning the Guadalajara Open 125 last month.