Third time was the charm for Alex Eala.

The Filipina star beat Tereza Valentova 6-4, 7-6 (7) on Thursday evening at Victoria Park to reach the Hong Kong Open quarterfinals. It was her first win over the Czech in three meetings after losses in Japan last year and in Qatar earlier this season.

The world No. 17 had to work for it. She survived break points in her opening service game and needed four deuces to hold at 4-4 in the first set after Valentova climbed back from 4-1 down.

Holding her nerve

Eala's first serve carried her through the opener. She won 19 points behind it, nearly double Valentova's 10. After the long hold for 5-4, the 21-year-old lefty broke at love to take the set.

The second set swung back and forth. Valentova broke for 3-2. Eala broke right back. The 19-year-old Czech broke again for 4-3 before Eala snatched another break late and served for a 6-5 lead.

Valentova held to force a tiebreak.

A tiebreak thriller

Eala raced to a 5-0 lead in the breaker before Valentova won four straight points and later saved two match points to level at 6-6. It stayed tight through 7-7 before Eala won the next two points to close it out 9-7.

She will face world No. 81 Antonia Ruzic of Croatia in the quarterfinals. Ruzic beat Wang Xinyu 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.