FILIPINO tennis ace Alexandra “Alex” Eala bowed out of the WTA 1000 BNP Paribas Open after yielding to Czech Linda Noskova in their round of 16 clash, 2-6, 0-6, at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden Stadium 1 Wednesday in Manila.
Advancing to the quarterfinals, World No. 14 Noskova thus finally had Eala’s number after falling to the World No. 32 twice in as many junior matches.
Eala defeated Noskova at the 2018 Les Petit As U14 final, 5–7, 6–3, 7–6(5), and at the 2020 French Open juniors quarterfinal, 4–6, 6–3, 6–2.
Eala simply had no answer to Noskova, whose clinical performance kept the Filipino diaspora in attendance silent for most of the match, which lasted only 55 minutes.
Eala managed to keep in step at 2-3 in the first set, but it was all Noskova from there, shutting down the Filipino hitter with her service, return and nifty point construction.
The 21-year-old Noskova converted all seven of her service games and broke the 20-year-old Eala five times.
Eala thus continued her losing spell against Czech players, falling to the likes of Barbora Krejcikova, Marketa Vondrousova and Tereza Valentova before.
Despite the round of 16 loss in her tournament debut, Eala, who defeated Dayana Yastremska in the round of 64 and Coco Gauff in the round of 32, is expected to hit a new career-high at 28th in the WTA rankings.
The live rankings already reflected Eala’s rise from 32nd to 28th, but the official rankings haven’t yet as of writing.
Eala also secured $105,720, or P6.3 million, in prize money for reaching the fourth round (round of 16).
Eala shifts her attention to the Miami Open slated from March 15 to 29.