Eala makes short work of French foe

MANILA, Philippines — Alex Eala scored a 6-3, 6-2 romp over home bet Amandine Hesse in the opening round of the W60 Nantes Tuesday night in France.

It’s a much-needed victory for the 18-year-old Filipina after early exits in two previous competitions, on the heels of her magnificent Asian Games debut.

Eala, who won two bronze medals in Hangzhou to end the country’s 17-year Asiad tennis medal drought, raced to 4-1 leads against the French in both sets and went on to complete a sweep.

The WTA No. 193 ace will face WTA No. 163 and tournament’s sixth-seeded Zeynep Sonmez of Turkey, who also beat a home bet in Chloe Noel, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.

Eala’s win in the singles tilt made up for a first-round exit in the doubles play with partner Jessy Rompies of Indonesia.

The Filipina-Indonesian tandem faltered in a 6-1, 3-6, 6-10 tiebreaker loss against Ekaterina Maklakova and Ekaterina Reyngold of Russia.