Reigning champion Rebecca Marino of Canada served great in the end, and upset top seed and crowd-drawer Alex Eala on Friday evening (Manila time).
Marino hit three aces during the tiebreaker for a 1-6, 6-0, 7-6(4) verdict over Eala, and in front of a big Filipino audience cheering for her in the quarterfinals of Ilkley WTA 125 in Great Britain.
The 34-year old Marino took one hour and 47 minutes to ease out the 20-year old Eala, who is preparing for grasscourt action of the Wimbledon Open at the end of the month.
Eala drew a big crowd of around 4000 Filipino fans who trooped to the 145-year-old Ilkley Lawn Tennis & Squash Club in West Yorkshire to cheer for the world no. 77 Filipina ace.
She fought to three ties in the third set to force a tiebreaker with Marino.
Marino drew on her vast experience to outhit Eala in the tiebreak, to move out of a 3-all deadlock and come within matchpoint with two of her three aces in the last set.
The Canadian won 26 points off 39 first serves, while the Filipina had 27 points on her 49 first serves.
With her loss, Eala took home $5780, or around P324,870, and 27 points for her effort.
The 8th seeded Marino is now in the semifinals with Viktorija Golubic, who prevailed over Diane Parry, 6-1, 6-3.
Earlier, Eala found herself in the round of eight after she came away with 6-1, 6-2 beating of Switzerland’s Valentina Ryser on Thursday evening.
Editor’s Note: This is an updated article.
