By Romeo Braceros Jr.

Alexandra "Alex" Eala of the Philippines, currently ranked at a new career high of 248 in the WTA World Rankings, won from behind on Tuesday to win her first W60 Hamburg match.

In 2 hours and 44 minutes, the 17-year-old Eala defeated Russian Ekaterina Kazionova, ranked 292 on the WTA, by scores of 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.

With a love service hold, Kazionova, 23, went up 3-1. She then advanced to 4-2 after saving a break point.

After Eala missed a backhand with the set at 5-2, Kazionova won the first set 6-2.

The game became more intense when they tied 3-3 in the second set.

Eala had three break points in the eighth game and broke back thanks to a long forehand from Kazionova, despite being broken in the next match due to a double fault.

Eala held serve once more on her second set point to force a decider at 6-4 after four deuces after saving two break points to even the score at 5-4.

The current US Open Juniors girls' singles winner increased her lead to 4-0 in the third set when Kazionova temporarily paused play after the second game to call a medical timeout.

Eala advanced to serve for the match at 5-1 after an exchange of service breaks, but not without opposition from her Russian opponent.

Kazionova persevered despite Eala earning two match points, breaking on her third chance with an on-the-run backhand winner down the line.

As Eala served the match for the second time when she committed a double fault, Kazionova maintained serve and then broke again to trail at 4-5.

In an attempt to tie the score, Kazionova smacked a forehand into the net, giving Eala two more match points.

On her fourth match point, the Filipino ace and Rafa Nadal Academy scholar won 6-4 thanks to Kazionova's long forehand strike.

The No. 1 seed, Ysaline Bonaventure of Belgium or Jana Fett of Croatia, will be Eala's opponents in the second round.

Eala is the 2021 W15 Manacor and 2022 W25 Chiang Rai winner.