MANILA, Philippines — Filipino tennis ace Alex Eala and Turkey’s Zeynep Sonmez bowed out of the doubles competition at the WTA 1000 Madrid Open after a round-of-16 (second round) loss to the Czech-American pair of Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend, 1-6, 5-7, in Spain on Saturday night (Manila time).
Eala and Sonmez came close to forcing a deciding set, taking a 5-4 lead and a 40-30 advantage in the 10th game of the second set. However, they were unable to close it out as Siniakova and Townsend rallied to seal the straight-sets win.
Eala’s Madrid campaign also ended in singles, where she fell to Elise Mertens, 2-6, 1-6, in the round of 64 on Friday.
She will next compete in the WTA 125 Catalonia Open in La Bisbal d’Empordà, Spain.
Meanwhile, Sonmez remains in contention in Madrid and is set to face Solana Sierra in the round of 32 on Sunday.
