Teen tennis sensation Alex Eala’s first serves found their mark as she hurdled her first round foe Simona Waltert, 6-1, 6-4, Wednesday night in the opener of the International Tennis Federation W25 Manacor netfest inside the Rafa Nadal Academy in Mallorca, Spain.
The 15-year-old Eala connected with 25 of her 38 first serves in earning a slot to the second round.
Eala, who recently started blogging, said she draws inspiration from the games of Simona Halep after watching her play and win the 2018 Roland Garros women’s singles finals.
“I always remember watching the 2018 Roland Garros women’s singles final and when Simona Halep was lifting the trophy, I recall thinking, ‘I can’t imagine how you must be feeling in this moment’. I also remember thinking that I really want to be in that position one day,” said Eala in her blog.
This is Eala’s first win against the 20-year-old Waltert, who is ranked 108th in the ITF singles rankings.
Eala first enjoyed a photo op with tennis star Rafa Nadal before fighting it out with the unseeded Swiss.
Waltert played confidently after she won a $25,000 tournament in Altenkirchen, Germany in the third week of February.
And she lost her momentum the moment Eala broke serve in the ninth game of the final set, 5-4.
Waltert was ahead in the final game, 40-30, when Eala forced a series of long exchanges, and held serve after forcing two deuces.
Eala, who faced off with Waltert in a 105-minute long showdown, is set to tackle third seeded Croatian Jana Fett in the second round.
Fett is meeting Eala after she eased past Diana Marcinkevica of Latvia, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.
This is her first pro tournament in three weeks.
Back in February, Eala won the crown in the first leg of three-stage event in Manacor.
Then, she reached the quarterfinals of the last two legs of the Manacor series, before losing to Polish bet Maja Chwalinska at the Trophee de la Ville, a $25,000 ITF tournament in Grenoble, France.