It seems the grueling schedule in between games don’t seem to bother Filipina teen tennis ace and ITF World No. 3 junior player Alex Eala.
In her quest for her 2nd straight professional title, she dispatched Mirjam Björklund of Sweden, her opening-round opponent at the second leg of the Rafael Nadal Academy ITF World Tennis Tournament in Mallorca, Spain.
Eala, also a Rafa Nadal Academy scholar, forced the Swede and the tournament’s number 2 seeded player to her knees, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
The teen tennis phenom earlier won her first ITF professional singles title a few days earlier in the first leg of the same tournament, where she beat veteran Spanish player Yvonne Cavalle-Reimers, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2, in the finals.
Expected to be tired and slower against a more experienced opponent, there was none of it during the match.
Though Eala lost the second set, she made up for it by being stronger and fully recharged in the third set.
With the win, Eala will next meet local bet Alba Carrillo in the next round on Thursday.
Her win marked a strong start for the teener this year after conquering the Australian Open Juniors doubles title in January last year and reaching the French Open juniors semifinal round.
Aside from being the No. 3 junior player in the world, she is also ranked 1,190th singles player in the world according to the Women’s Tennis Association’s latest rankings.