Against Eala and her fans, Prozorova finds a way

MANILA, Philippines — Tatiana Prozorova stunned even herself.

The 22-year-old Russian, ranked No. 180 in the world and playing before a crowd overwhelmingly behind Alex Eala, somehow turned a one-set, 2-4 deficit into the biggest victory of her career. 

Prozorova beat the World No. 18 Filipina, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, late Thursday night to storm into the quarterfinals of the Singapore Open.

And when the winning ball landed deep in the corner, beyond Eala’s reach, Prozorova did not celebrate so much as freeze in disbelief.

She raised both arms hesitantly, her face registering shock before she covered it with her hands, fighting back tears. After embracing Eala at midcourt, she walked almost in a daze toward her coach and held him in a long embrace, as if needing someone to convince her that what had just happened was real.

For three hours and nine minutes, Prozorova had clung to one thing: belief.

“I don't have any words right now to describe my emotions, my feelings, but... wow! I – I did it. I just did it, yeah,” she said during the post-match interview, still struggling to process the result.

Then came the explanation that perhaps summed up the entire match.

“I just believed in myself till the end, and I know — I knew that she will fight, I also will be fighting till the end, and that's what I just did, and it worked,” she said.

Down a set and trailing 2-4 against the tournament's biggest crowd favorite, Prozorova refused to fold. Instead, she began to find more depth on her groundstrokes, stood her ground on Eala's serves and returns, and repeatedly sent the ball into the deepest corners of the court.

And as the match wore on, the Russian's belief seemed to grow with every successful strike.

The crowd, predominantly supporting Eala, roared whenever the Filipina produced a winner and grew tense whenever Prozorova answered back. Yet the Russian absorbed it all, calmly going about her business and refusing to be overwhelmed by the occasion.

By the end, even the crowd had to acknowledge what it had witnessed.

The upset was remarkable not only because of the rankings — No. 180 against No. 18 — but also because Eala had entered the tournament as the No. 2 seed following the last-minute withdrawal of Amanda Anisimova because of injury.

For Eala, the defeat also ended a notable run against lower-ranked opponents. It was her first loss to a player outside the Top 100 in exactly a year, since she fell to then-No. 146 Lulu Sun in the semifinals of the Jingshan WTA 125.

For Prozorova, meanwhile, the victory was territory she had never before visited.

She had never beaten a player ranked higher than No. 40.

And she had done it after staring at defeat.

Two days earlier, Prozorova had also found herself in serious trouble against Belgium's Sofia Costoulas. She trailed a set and 2-4 before somehow reversing the match, winning 5-7, 7-6 (2), 6-2 to reach the second round.

Against Eala, 21, she had to do it all over again.

Perhaps that explains why she could not quite identify where her fighting spirit came from.

Then, with a laugh, she offered a far more lighthearted explanation.

“It's something inside me. I ate a lot of desserts today,” she said in jest.

Maybe the sugar helped. Maybe it was something deeper.

“Maybe it's also like, ‘Hey, come on, let's go, keep fighting,” she added.

Whatever it was, it carried her through another marathon.

“It was super match,” said Prozorova. “I'm very grateful to everybody who came today to support us. Yes, it was tough against Eala — well, not against her, but against her fans. But well, I appreciate it. It was tough.”

The victory earned Prozorova her first WTA quarterfinal and transformed what had already been a promising week into the biggest breakthrough of her young career.

Waiting for her in the last eight is Wang Xinyu, who also had to fight back Thursday, recovering from a 1-4 deficit in the opening set to defeat qualifier Joanna Garland, 7-5, 6-4.

Prozorova has already beaten the odds twice in Singapore.

She arrived as a world No. 180 with little reason for anyone to expect her to still be playing at this stage.

Now, after knocking out the No. 18 player in the world — and doing so in front of a crowd that wanted anything but that result — she has something she did not have when the week began.

A reason to believe that perhaps this run can go even further.

On Thursday night, Prozorova believed when almost nobody else did.

By the time the final ball landed, even she could hardly believe it.

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