Alex Eala needed more than two hours, a nerve-testing tiebreak, and one emphatic forehand winner to finally shake off her Czech curse, beating 18-year-old Tereza Valentova, 6-4, 7-6 (9-7), on Thursday night to reach the quarterfinals of the Prudential Hong Kong Open.
The 21-year-old Filipina, ranked World No. 17, snapped a 10-match losing streak against Czech opponents, including two previous defeats to Valentova, making her third encounter with the teenager a particularly satisfying breakthrough.
It was hardly a routine escape. Valentova fought back after falling behind 0-3 in the opening set and even threatened to take control in the second at 4-2, turning what appeared to be a manageable assignment into a test of Eala’s nerve and patience. The Filipina clawed back to 5-5.
The climax came in the tiebreak, where Eala was already a point away from closing out the match before the Czech clawed her way back to 7-7. But the Filipina found the answer with a forehand winner that sailed beyond Valentova’s reach.
Eala nearly dropped to her knees and unleashed a scream of relief and triumph, drawing cheers from a predominantly pro-Filipina crowd. It was the kind of celebration that needed no translation.
Afterward, Eala was generous in acknowledging the quality of her opponent, even as she savored the breakthrough.
“I think Tereza played incredibly, and we were able to bring the match to a really high level. And I think that was reflected in the score. I’m really happy with that win. I think I escaped by just a bit,” she said.
The statistics suggested just how narrow the escape was. Eala converted all four of her break-point opportunities, while Valentova managed only three conversions from 12 chances. The Filipina also won 85 percent of points on her second serve, compared with 67 percent for the Czech.
Eala landed 85 percent of her first serves but won only 61 percent of those points. Valentova, despite a lower 75-percent first-serve success rate, won 51 percent of her first-serve points. Eala had three double faults, while the Czech had 5. Valentova had a slight edge in aces, four to three.
The numbers hardly suggest a comfortable victory. But Eala finally got the one statistic that mattered most: a win over a Czech opponent.
And after 10 consecutive disappointments, she can finally stop treating that particular matchup as a national sporting emergency.
