After plowing through qualifiers, Miko Eala forges clash with 7th seed in Tunisia tiff

MANILA, Philippines -- Miko Eala will be facing seventh seed Nicolas Tepmahc in the first round of the main draw of the M15 Monastir tiff in Tunisia on Wednesday.

Eala, older brother of WTA rising star Alex, bulldozed himself through the qualifiers to earn a spot in the main draw.

The 19-year-old recently made his professional debut in the M15 Tay Ninh in Vietnam shortly after the 31st Southeast Asian Games where Alex competed for Team Philippines.

His sister took home three bronze medals in the biennial meet.

Miko, for his part, plays college tennis for Penn State in Division 1 of the US NCAA.

In the qualifiers, Miko blanked his first two opponents from Chinese Taipei and Tunisia with identical 6-0, 6-0 scores.

He then bested Sheng Tang of China, 6-1, 6-3, in the third round to earn one of the eight spots to the main draw from the qualifiers.

Miko is looking to post his first win in a main draw of a professional tournament.

As a junior player, Miko won two titles, one in a Grade 5 and one in a J3 category tournament. Both were in the boy's singles division.

Miko is a graduate of famed Rafa Nadal Tennis Academy in Spain where Alex is still currently attending.