Eala blasts Cabrera in first round of Lexus Ilkley Open

ALEXANDRA “ALEX” EALA finally snapped a first-round drought, scoring a 7-6(4), 6-3 romp over Filipina-Australian Lizette Cabrera to open her campaign with a bang on Wednesday in the 2025 Lexus Ilkley Open in England.

The Filipina pride erased a 1-3 deficit in the first then unleashed a 4-1 finishing kick in the second to complete the sweep and end a dry spell after three straight first-round exits in Italy, France and Great Britain.

Ms. Eala, Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) No. 77, lived up to her lofty billing as the tournament’s No. 1 seed in finishing off the WTA No. 206 Cabrera in only one hour and 45 minutes.

Up next for the 20-year-old sensation is WTA No. 230 Valentina Ryser of Switzerland, who scored an easy 6-0, 6-4 win over Japan’s Sara Saito in their own first-round duel.

Ms. Eala absorbed first-round exits in her last three tournaments in the clay courts of Italian Open and French Open as well as the grass court of Birmingham Open last month.

She bowed to Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine, 6-0, 6-1 in the Italian Open, to Emiliana Arango of Colombia, 0-6, 6-2, 3-6 in the French Open then to Czech Republic’s Linda Fruhvirtova, 5-7, 7-6(5), 1-6, in the Birmingham Open.

Her lone second-round stint was in the French Open doubles with Mexican partner Renata Zarazua after a 7-5, 6-4 win over Emily Appleton of Great Britain and Yvonne Cavalle-Reimers of Spain in Round 1.

She and her Swiss partner Rebeka Masarova also fell to the second-seeded tandem of Ellen Perez and Storm Hunter from Australia, 6-4, 6-4, in Round 1 of the Birmingham Open.

But not this time around as Ms. Eala finally broke through in the singles of Ilkley as part of her non-stop preparations for an anticipated main draw debut in the 2025 Wimbledon on June 30 to July 11 in London.

It’s the second straight Grand Slam main draw stint for Ms. Eala after the French Open since barging into the Top 100 of the WTA rankings to become eligible for direct invites in all majors.

A graduate of the Rafael Nadal Academy in Spain, she made it possible by scoring a historic semifinal finish in the Miami Open to rise all the way to No. 69 from No. 140. — John Bryan Ulanday