Alex Eala opened her 20th Asian Games campaign in Aichi-Nagoya in dominant fashion, cruising past Thailand's Patcharin Cheapchandej 6-1, 6-0 in the round of 16 on Monday afternoon Philippine time at Higashiyama Park Tennis Center Indoor Court C.
The victory marked Eala's second win over Cheapchandej, following her 6-3, 6-4 triumph over the Thai in the 2022 ITF Thailand 05A.
The match was originally scheduled to be played on Center Court -- moved to the Show Court -- before multiple rain delays forced the hand of the organizers to move the contest indoors.
Eala immediately took control of the opening set, winning the first four games behind two breaks of Cheapchandej's serve in the second and fourth games to build a 4-0 lead.
Cheapchandej finally found an opening in the fifth game, capitalizing on a rare lapse from the world No. 18 on serve to earn her first break and get on the board at 4-1.
The Filipina quickly restored her momentum, breaking Cheapchandej again in the sixth game before holding serve to close out the set, 6-1, and take a one-set lead.
It was utter domination in terms of first serve in favor of Eala, where she scored 15 points compared to the Thai's lowly two points for the whole set.
Eala carried the momentum into the second set, racing to another 4-0 advantage after breaking Cheapchandej's serve in the first and third games.
This time, however, the Filipina star did not give her opponent an opening to respond. The 21-year-old Eala broke again in the fifth game before holding serve in the sixth to complete the 6-0 second-set sweep and seal the straight-sets victory.
Next up for Eala in the quarterfinals is eight seed Joanna Garland of Chinese Taipei, as she moves within a win away from a bronze and three wins away from an Asian Games gold medal.
