Filipina sensation Alexandra Eala extended her fairytale week with a straight-sets victory over grizzled Romanian Sorana Cîrstea 7-5, 6-4 to advance into the quarterfinals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
It was also another full house that received the crowd favourite Wednesday night.
And the 20-year-old didn’t let her adoring Filipino fans down, storming to victory on Center Court in a match-up that could turn into a mouthwatering quarterfinal against two-time Grand Slam winner US sensation Coco Gauff.
The defeat followed a stunning win over world number eight Jasmine Paolini of Italy in the round before, and Eala came through a testing first set against the 35-year-old Romanian Cîrstea before blowing her off court over the course of an excellent display of attacking tennis.
Now the world number 40 has the opportunity to reach a semi-final with big names such as American star Gauff in their sights on Thursday.
“I feel like it is a good opportunity for me. Win or lose tomorrow, I still think it’s nice for me to learn,” said the highest-ranked player in Philippines history, Eala.
“Obviously when you play a player like Coco, it’s something people, I mean they would die to do. Here in Dubai, too, a quarterfinal. So that’s what I am really excited about.”
As such, Gauff — who saved three match points in a dramatic, back-and-forth three-set victory over Elise Mertens of Belgium — will not know to what degree she is actually facing Eala and to what degree she’s facing the Centre Court crowd, which on Thursday is bound to turn the match into something akin to a football game.
“I think it’s good for the sport to have guys feeling like this. It’s a lot of fun, no matter if the crowd is against you or not,” Gauff said.
“Then of course with her game, she’s really a great player. She has already beat some top-10 players in straight sets. It’s going to be a really hard match for sure.
Their quarterfinal is set to take place at 7 p.m. on Thursday Gauff vs Eala: Quarterfinal match time and how to watch The match has been put as the final one in court order of play.
In the other last eight clashes, fourth seeded US player Jessica Pegula will meet Denmark’s Clara Tauson, who was runner-up in 2021 (2 pm), defending champion Mirra Andreeva of Russia takes on second seed Amanda Anisimova of US (not before 4 pm) and two-time Dubai champion Elina Svitolina of Ukraine is up against Antonia Ruzic of Croatia (not before 8:10 pm).