London, July 2 (IANS) Alexandra Eala of the Philippines continued her onward march at Wimbledon, scoring a fine comeback victory over Maya Joint to secure a maiden entry into the third round at the All England Club in London on Thursday.

In the opening stages of the match, Australia’s Joint took an early lead, looking as sharp as she did during her win against Serena Williams a couple of days back.

But Eala clawed her way back, buoyed by vocal support from fans bearing the Filipino flag. In the deciding set, Eala, 21, scored a crucial early break and powered through to a 3-6, 6-2, 6-0 win in just under two hours.

This win, which means Eala is the first Filipino player to reach the third round at The Championships, was long-awaited revenge after she lost an excruciatingly close battle to Joint in the Eastbourne final last year, which ended 12-10 in the deciding set tie-break.

Earlier, Marie Bouzkova and Emma Navarro, who met in the final of the Nottingham Open two weeks ago, advanced to the Ladies’ Singles third round with contrasting victories.

The No. 21 seed Bouzkova recovered from an early break in the opening set to defeat Grant 7-5, 6-3, reaching the third round at Wimbledon for the third time. Her best Grand Slam result came at the All England Club in 2022, when she reached the quarterfinals.

Bouzkova will next face Liudmila Samsonova, last year’s Wimbledon quarterfinalist, who upset No. 15 seed Diana Shnaider 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 to reach the third round. Samsonova holds a 3-2 edge in the head-to-head series on the WTA Tour, Driven by Mercedes-Benz, although Bouzkova won their only previous meeting on grass.

Navarro, who fell to Bouzkova in the Nottingham final, rallied past Oksana Selekhmeteva 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 to reach the third round at the All England Club for the third consecutive year. The American reached the quarterfinals in 2024 and the fourth round last year.

She has now won 14 of her past 18 tour-level matches and will next face either No. 12 seed Marta Kostyuk or Anna Blinkova.

–IANS

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