Rain halts Alex Eala's Guadalajara 125 Open match vs. Varvara Lepchenko

Dubai: A marathon tennis match between Filipina tennis star Alex Eala and veteran American Varvara Lepchenko was suspended on Thursday due to rain at the Guadalajara 125 Open in Mexico. The Round of 16 clash was stopped with Eala leading 3-2 in the third set.

The match, which had already lasted for nearly three hours, was a back-and-forth battle from the start. Eala, 20, dropped a tight first set in a tiebreak, but bounced back to claim a thrilling second set, also decided by a tiebreak, evening the score at one set apiece.

The two competitors had just begun the deciding set when the weather at the Panamericano de Tenis took a turn, forcing officials to halt play. At the time of the stoppage, Eala was in the midst of a comeback, having erased an early deficit in the second set to force the tiebreak.

A resumption date and time for the match has since been set for Friday, September 5, at 12 noon local time in Guadalajara. The winner of the suspended match will advance to the quarterfinals to face Italy’s Nicole Fossa Huergo.

Eala, the second-seeded player in the tournament, is coming off a dominant performance in the Round of 32, where she defeated Arianne Hartono of the Netherlands in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2. The victory extended Eala's head-to-head record against Hartono to 4-0.

The Guadalajara 125 Open is an important stop for Eala as she pursues her first WTA title.