Alex Eala advanced to the next round of the women’s singles and doubles of the ITF W100 Vitoria-Gasteiz in Spain.
The 19-year-old Eala first fought back from leads posted by hometown bet Lucia Cortez Llorca to prevail, 7-5, 7-5, on Thursday in the second round of the singles.
Two hours later, she and French partner Estelle Cascino reached the semifinals of the doubles after they took in just 59 minutes to get past Victoria Bervid of the Czech Republic and Laura Mair of Italy, 6-4, 6-1.
It was Eala’s second win over the 24-year-old Llorca, whom she also faced last year in this same tournament.
The world 385th-ranked Cortez-Llorca quickly took a 4-1 lead in the opening set, and went on to grab a 5-2 lead.
Eala awakened and swept the next five games to win, 7-5, and gain a one-set advantage.
Cortez-Llorca built a 4-1 lead in the second set, winning on a service break in the second game, before the fifth-seeded Eala rallied again to win their two-hour and seven-minute battle.
Eala, now at a career-high 155th ranking in the world, is in the quarterfinals, where she is set to face fourth seed Yuliia Starodubtseva of Ukraine.
Starodubtseva is also at a career-best world ranking of 123.
Meanwhile, the third-seeded Eala and Cascino will meet unseeded pair of Maria Jose Portillo Ramirez of Mexico and Noelia Zeballos Melgar of Bolivia.
Ramirez and Melgar upset second seeds Starodubtseva and Rutuja Bhosale of India in the quarterfinals, 6-4, 6-4.
