MANILA, Philippines, October 23 ------ After flying high off her first back-to-back wins in over a month, Alex Eala was brought back down to the ground by a foe who proved too strong and savvy. The 19-year-old sensation found herself on the receiving end of a 6-0, 6-3 drubbing from Bernarda Pera of the United States and was booted out in the WTA 250 Guangzhou Open opening round, at the Nansha International Tennis Center in China.
The world No. 147 Eala went through two matches in the qualifiers to earn a main draw ticket in the $267,082 WTA event. She prevailed over local bet, No. 168 Xinyu Gao, 6-2, 6-7 (3-7), 6-2, in the opening round of the qualifiers, then followed up by downing No. 179 Elena Pridankina of Russia, 6-2, 6-2. The Filipina teen, however, discovered the world No. 79 Pera, who achieved a career-high ranking of 23rd in 2023, was on a totally different level compared to her previous foes.
Pera, who made the Wimbledon third round last July, sent a strong message right from the get-go by blanking Eala in the first set, 6-0. The 29-year-old Croatian-American threatened to pull away anew in the second set when she reached break point in the second game, but Eala fought back and held serve to put herself on the scoreboard for the first time in the match. Eala managed to keep in step with Pera until the sixth game, 3-3. The pivotal moment came in the eighth game, when Pera converted on her third breakpoint to go up, 5-3. It was all over by the ninth game as Pera finished off Eala after just 61 minutes of play.
The Guangzhou Open was Eala’s fifth main draw appearance in a WTA this season. She, however, has advanced past the opening round just once, in the WTA Mutua Madrid Open last April. Eala will see action next in the WTA 250 Jiangxi Open in Jiujiang, China, scheduled from October 28 to November 3.
Source: rappler.com
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