Alex Eala faces world no. 220 Lulu Sun in the third round of the Wimbledon qualifiers, with a win allowing her to reach the main draw at the grass courts of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in London.
Eala earlier pounced on errors committed by world No. 22 and 2021 French Open semifinalist Tamara Zidansek of Slovenia, to post a 1-6, 7-6 (9), 6-3 win in the second round Wednesday (Thursday) in Manila.
Sun, a Swiss-Kiwi netter, moved to the third round after disposing of Czech netter Gabriela Knutson, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (6).
With the win, the 19-year-old Eala advanced to the third round at the end of their two hour and 33-minute match.
Eala is now within a win of becoming the first Filipina to make it to the main draw of a Grand Slam event.
During her clash with Zidansek, Eala scored 11 net points out of 23 net attacks.
She won the ninth game of the last set on Zidansek’s two unforced errors, 6-3.
It was close between Eala and Zidansek in the second set.
But a pair of errors and a double fault handed Eala the set, after taking the tiebreak in the 13th game at 11-9.
Eala reached the second round after getting past France’s Jessika Ponchet, 7-6, 6-4.
Last month, Eala almost made it to the French Open main draw.