(UPDATE) FILIPINA tennis sensation Alexandra “Alex” Eala outplayed another Croatian player, Petra Marcinko, 6-0, 6-2, to book a quarterfinals slot in the ASB Classic on Thursday in Auckland, New Zealand. Eala previously defeated Croatia’s Donna Vekic, a Paris Olympics silver medalist, in a grueling three-set affair, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, on Tuesday and carried the momentum against Marcinko in the round-of-16 clash. Both 20-year-olds, the No. 53 ranked Eala blanked world No. 82 Marcinko in the first frame for a roaring start. In the second set, the Croatian took an early 2-1 lead before Eala waxed hot and won five consecutive games as Marcinko could not respond to the Filipina’s loaded forehand swings. Marcinko is an 11-time International Tennis Federation champion and winner of the 2025 ATV Tennis Open. Eala will next face Magda Linette of Poland, who scored a hard-earned 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 victory over Elisabetta Cocciaretto of Italy on Thursday. Linette is a 33-year-old veteran netter, and reached a career-high singles of world No.19, and is currently ranked at No. 52. She has reached eight finals on the WTA Tour, winning three titles: 2024 Prague Open, 2020 Hua Win Championships and 2019 Bronx Open. In the doubles event, Eala and her American partner Iva Jovic were supposed to face Jesika Maleckova of Czechia and Renata Zarazua of Mexico in the quarterfinals on Thursday but booked an outright semis seat via a walkover. Eala and Jovic came from a high-profile win against veterans Venus Williams and Elena Svitolina, 7-6, 6-1. They will face two formidable Chinese players in Xu Yifan and Yang Zhaoxuan in the final four. The 37-year-old Yifan and 30-year-old Zhaoxuan bagged doubles crowns in the WTA 1000 2022 Indian Wells Doubles Championship and 2022 Silicon Valley Classic.