Alex Eala fought hard for every point in the 10th game of the third and set and eased out Laura Ioana Paar of Romania, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, on Tuesday in the first round of the W25 Trophee De La Ville De Grenoble in Grenoble, France.
After forcing Paar to concede following a series of long exchanges in the 10th game of the third set, the unseeded Eala earned herself a slot in the second round.
The 32-year-old Paar yielded after Eala held serve at match point and three deuces at the end of their two hour and 18-minute showdown.
Paar was leading, 4-3, when she double faulted at the start of the eighth game in the final set.
Eala took a stand from there and grabbed a 30-0 edge before tying the match at 4-all.
Paar’s double fault in the ninth game, gave Eala a chance to break serve for a 5-4 edge.
Seventh seed Cristina Bucsa of Spain will be Eala’s next rival in the second round.
The 23-year-old Bucsa turned back Martina de Giuseppe of Italy, 6-4,6-4, to advance to the Round of 16.
Pemra Ozgen of Turkey and Viktorija Golubic also joined Eala in the second round after the former walloped Marine Szostak of France, 6-4, 6-4, and the latter stopped another French netter in Harmony Tan, 4-6, 6-4, 4-1(retired).
Eala, a Globe ambassador, whose World Tennis Association ranking has gone up to 903 this week, was among 15 young players who recently received junior player grants from the International Tennis Federation of up to $25,000.
She is in her third year of training at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Mallorca. Peter Atencio