Alex Eala wasted little time making her mark in Japan, steamrolling qualifier Mika Stojsavljevic 6-1, 6-2 to open her Toray Pan Pacific Open campaign with a dominant round of 32 victory in Tokyo on Monday afternoon in Tokyo.
It improves the Asian swing record of Eala to 2-3, bouncing back from a close 7-5, 6-4 loss against Diana Shnaider in the round of 16 of the Ningbo Open.
In the first set, Eala quickly displayed her experience against Stojsavljevic by controlling her service games and had a strong return game in the second to claim a break and race to a 3-0 lead.
It also didn't help that the British teenager committed two double faults in the second game and impressive forehand play of the Filipina to give her the advantage.
Eala kept the pressure on, breaking Stojsavljevic again in the fourth game before consolidating the double break with a hold to race to a commanding 5-0 lead.
The world No. 308 finally got on the scoreboard with a hold in the sixth game, but Eala stayed composed on serve to close out the opening set 6-1 in just seven games.
Going into the second set, the Filipina continued to display great tennis in a lengthy first game, where she scored three crucial return points to get her third break of the match.
Stojsavljevic indeed was producing a better showing by getting three break opportunities, but Eala played it methodically with great serving to rack up seven out of the next nine points to gain 2-0 lead.
Both players went on to hold their respective serves until the eighth game, as Eala maintained a 4-2 lead in the middle of the first set. However, the world No. 20 took her chance in the ninth game and became aggressive to go up double break at 5-2.
And as the Filipina tennis star served for the match in the eighth game, she showed her consistency anew to get back to winning ways.
Eala made the difference on return, winning 13 points off Stojsavljevic's second serve compared to the qualifier's seven against her own delivery.
Up next for Eala is a clash against Australia's Talia Gibson in the round of 16, after she dispatched Daria Kasatkina 6-0, 7-5.