Alexandra Eala pulled off a late comeback Wednesday night in Abu Dhabi, rallying past Aliaksandra Sasnovich to reach the quarterfinals after a three-set battle on Stadium Court.

Abu Dhabi: Scores | Draws | Order of play

Eala dropped the opening set in front of a heavily pro-Filipino crowd but broke in the final game of the second set to force a decider. From there, she erased a 4–0 deficit and saved a match point before closing out a 2–6, 6–4, 7–6 (5) win in nearly three hours.

“These moments are moments I only have dreamed about,” Eala said in her on-court interview. “Selling out stadiums is insane and being in these matches in particular are just really the ones that kind of stick with you. And I’ve had a lot of them in the past year, so I’m really happy with this win.”

The victory sends her to the quarterfinals, where she will face No. 2 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova. It marks Eala’s fifth career quarterfinal at the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz level.

But her spot in the last eight was in doubt for much of Wednesday’s match. Sasnovich came out firing, dominating on serve and at one point winning nine straight points from the line. She dropped just six points on serve in the opening set, won all of her first-serve points and didn’t face a break point.

Sasnovich broke again to open the second set, but the match flipped quickly. Eala generated 11 break points in the set, fueled by 19 Sasnovich unforced errors after just four in the first set. The 31-year-old fought off several of Eala’s advances but was unable to hold when serving to stay in the set, sending the match to a decider after a 66-minute second set.

Sasnovich broke again to start the third set, quieting a crowd that had willed Eala forward all night, and raced to a 4-0 lead in 17 minutes. Things went from bad to worse for Eala when she faced a break point that would have put her down 5-0 and all but sealed her fate.

But whether through fate, or simply her own relentlessness, she never backed down. Not after Sasnovich broke again for 5-2. Not when she faced match point in the next game. And not when Sasnovich had another chance to serve it out at 5-4.

Instead, Eala stormed back to take a 6-5 lead. After Sasnovich held her serve and her nerve to force a tiebreak, Eala delivered one last escape. Trailing 5-4 with the match on Sasnovich’s racket, she won the final three points to leave her opponent, and the raucous crowd, stunned.

“I really tried my best in those moments to fight,” Eala said. “I really tried to find the fight. And in the end, I think when I was coming back, I was able to find it. So I’m really proud of that.”

Eala won the match despite winning 10 fewer total points (121-111) and trailing in several key statistical categories.

The 20-year-old will look to continue her heroics in the quarterfinals against Alexandrova in what is set to be their first career meeting.

Bencic withdraws as Alexandrova, Bejlek and Kartal advance to Abu Dhabi quarterfinals

Wednesday was set to be a busy day in Abu Dhabi, and singles action opened with a dominant performance from Alexandrova, who dropped just three games in a straight-sets win over Dayana Yastremska.

Though Alexandrova is best known for her overpowering serve, it was her return game that stood out. She dismantled Yastremska’s serve, winning more than 64% of points on the Ukrainian’s first serve. She generated nine break points and converted six, cruising into her first quarterfinal of the season, where she will face Eala.

She’ll enter as the highest seed remaining after defending champion and No. 1 seed Belinda Bencic withdrew due to illness, a development that also guarantees Alexandrova a return to the Top 10 on Monday regardless of her results this week.

Bencic’s withdrawal opened a spot for a lucky loser, rewarding Renata Zarazua with a spot in the second round and a chance to play her way into the quarterfinals. But Zarazua was unable to capitalize, as qualifier Sonay Kartal romped to a 6-0, 6-3 win in 57 minutes.

Kartal was untouchable on serve, dropping just seven points (32 of 39) and not facing a break point throughout the match.

While the quick turnaround may have contributed to Zarazua’s struggles, it shouldn’t diminish the Briton’s performance. Nor does it change the fact that Kartal is headed to her fourth career quarterfinal.

There, she will face 20-year-old Sara Bejlek, who upset No. 7 seed Jelena Ostapenko earlier in the day in straight sets to reach her second career quarterfinal, and her first on a hard court.

Bejlek broke the former French Open champion in the final game of the opening set, then struck first in the second set for a 3-1 lead. Ostapenko responded immediately with a break to get back on serve, but Bejlek broke again in the next game before serving out the match.

It marked the third Top 30 win of the young Czech’s career.