Sao Paulo: Alexandra Eala bids to follow up first WTA 125 trophy with maiden tour-level title

Last Sunday, Alexandra Eala lifted her first WTA 125 trophy in Guadalajara.

Could that triumph spark her first tour-level title in Sao Paulo?

So far, the 20-year-old has continued her winning ways in dominant fashion by dropping just seven games in her first two matches. After winning her opener, Eala reached the quarterfinals of the WTA 250 with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Julia Riera.

The world No. 61 won 52 percent of her return points to break Riera five times in Wednesday's 78-minute victory.

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Eala has gone deep twice at the tour level this season. In March, she stunned Iga Swiatek to make the final four at the WTA 1000 in Miami. Ahead of Wimbledon, she held four championship points against Maya Joint on her WTA final debut in Eastbourne—but the Australian valiantly came out on top of a decisive tiebreaker.

Up next Friday for the Filipino star: Janice Tjen. The 23-year-old has also produced a pair of emphatic victories this week in just her second tour-level tournament. Tjen's latest, a 6-1, 6-0 trouncing of Martina Okalova, enabled the Indonesian to become the first woman from her nation to reach a WTA quarterfinal in 21 years (Angelique Widjaja, 2004 Bali).

Both Eala and Tjen posted notable wins over seeded opponents at the US Open. Eala rallied from a 5-1 final-set deficit to topple Clara Tauson, while Tjen ousted Veronika Kudermetova in a decider. The two have not faced off since their junior days.