TENNIS phenom Alex Eala beat France’s Julie Belgraver, 6-0, 3-6, 6-1, to advance to the third round of the Australian Open Junior Girls singles tournament on Tuesday in Melbourne.
Eala, 14, disposed of an error-prone Belgraver, reaching match point after a 40-40 deuce in the third set.
Eala, ranked No. 4 in the tournament, clashes with 16th-ranked Hong Yi Cody Wong of Hong Kong in the round of 16.
Eala was also on a roll in doubles with teammate, Indonesia’s Prisk Madelyn Nugroho, reaching the round of 16 after defeating Belgraver and Slovenia’s Pia Lovric, 6-2, 4-6.
Eala and Nogroho dominated the tandem of Russia’s Avanesyan and Ukraine’s Liuboy Kostenko, 7-5, 4-6, on Monday.
Eala, who trains at the Rafael Nadal Academy, earlier eliminated Israel’s Shavit Kimchi, 6-0, 4-6, 6-2, last Sunday.