FAVORED to win the gold medal in the 2026 Asian Games, tennis ace Alexandra “Alex” Eala faces more pressure to deliver in Nagoya, Japan after her early exit in the Singapore Open.
Eala, ranked 18th in the world, played a gruesome three-hour battle against world No. 180 Tatiana Prozorova in the round of 16 of the Singapore Open and lost, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, on Thursday night.
Eala fought hard in Singapore but was outplayed by Prozorova, who scored a victory against a top 40 player for the first time.
With the early exit, Eala can now focus on her Asian Games campaign where she is the top seed.
In Nagoya, Eala will go up against China’s Shuai Zhang (54th), Thailand’s Lanlana Tararudee (61st), China’s Xiyu Wang (82nd) and Mananchaya Sawangkaew (88th).
“I think I have as big a chance [of winning the gold] as any other person on the draw,” the 21-year-old Eala said during the post-game press conference of the Singapore Open.
Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Abraham Tolentino, meanwhile, made a bold statement that the nation could finish with eight gold medals in the Asian Games and included Eala on his list of gold medal finishers.
“Yeah, I think once you compete and once you’re in the draw, you have a chance. So do my best of course, process the loss all on the sides on the board,” she added.
Pressure, however, mounts as the 2026 Asian Games tennis tournament begins on Sept. 27 but Eala remains confident that she can deliver.
“Like I said, I just need to analyze and reconvene with my team and you know, say, ‘Hey we need to work on A, B, and C.’ And so I’ll work on it, and I think that’s the beauty of sport, the beauty of tennis. It’s a constant ... I guess, evolution, always learning,” she said.
Still, she said that she needs to brush off the setback in Singapore and focus on the next one.
“You’re going to have days like this where you battle for three hours and it’s just doesn’t go your way, so I have to learn from it but also not try to make it bigger than it needs to be,” she added.
