Alex Eala advances to Eastbourne Open semifinals after dominant, hour-long victory

Filipino tennis star Alex Eala, on June 26, advanced to the semifinals of the Lexus Eastbourne Open in the United Kingdom after a dominant victory against Ukraine's Dayana Yastremska.

Eala defeated Yastrremska, 6 to 1 and 6 to 2, her best performance in a grass court to date.

The World No. 74 Eala finished the World No. 42 Yastremska in just over an hour.

It's in contrast to her quarterfinals win against Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko, as she first lost in a disastrous first set before ultimately winning, 0 to 6, 6 to 2, and 3 to 2, when the latter retired due to injury.

In a post-match interview, the 20-year-old Filipino athlete reflected on winning four consecutive matches against players ranked above her in the Women's Tennis Association.

“More than anything, it's just the mentality,” Eala said. “With these great players and tough conditions, it's kind of hard to balance that kind of patience and the will to go for that ball. So I think I did that well throughout the whole week.”

She noted that it's already been a "long road" despite her young age and the start of her tennis career.

“I have a lot of experience with getting to know myself. So I think that's a big part of how I handle myself," she added.

Eala is facing France's Varvara Gracheva in the semifinals on June 27 at 6 p.m.

They already met in the qualifying round of the Nottingham Open earlier in June, with Eala winning the match 6 to 3, 3 to 6, and 6 to 3.

Eala quickly rose to fame in March after finishing in the semifinals and historically beating three Grand Slam winners in Ostapenko, Madison Keys, and Iga Swiatek during the Miami Open.

From being 140th in the world, Eala moved up to the Top 100 of the WTA rankings.

The Filipina began her training at 13 years old in Rafael Nadal's academy in Mallorca, Spain.

The Lexus Eastbourne Open will run from June 23 to 28.