World No. 180 Tatiana Prozorova produced the biggest win of her career at the Singapore Tennis Open, overturning a set-and-a-break deficit to defeat third seed Alexandra Eala 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 and reach her first WTA quarterfinal.
The match
Prozorova, 22, spent 3 hours and 9 minutes on court to complete a remarkable second-round comeback against the Washington champion. She had trailed by a set and 4-2 before finding a way back into the contest, then carried the momentum through the deciding set.
The Russian struck 52 winners, more than twice Eala’s total of 24, to earn her first victory over a Top 20 opponent.
Before arriving in Singapore, Prozorova had won only three main-draw matches at WTA Tour level, with those victories coming in Palermo in 2023 and Memphis this July. Her sole previous win over a Top 50 player was against Tatjana Maria at the Manila WTA 125 in January.
“I cannot really put my feelings into words,” Prozorova said after the match. “I kept believing until the last point. I knew she would keep fighting, so I had to do the same, and it paid off.”
It was the second straight match in which Prozorova recovered from a set and a 4-2 deficit. In the opening round, she beat Sofia Costoulas 5-7, 7-6(2), 6-2 in 2 hours and 51 minutes.
Asked about the source of her resolve, Prozorova laughed that a large serving of desserts before the match may have helped give her the energy to keep battling.
For Eala, the defeat marked her first loss to an opponent outside the Top 100 in a year. Her previous such defeat came in the Jingshan WTA 125 semifinals last September, when then-No. 146 Lulu Sun defeated her.
The next round
Prozorova will meet Wang Xinyu for a place in the Singapore semifinals. Wang advanced after recovering from 4-1 down in the opening set to beat qualifier Joanna Garland 7-5, 6-4.
