FILIPINO tennis ace Alex Eala — ALEX EALA FB PAGE
FILIPINO teen tennis ace Alex M. Eala fell short in her push to make it to the main draw of the International Tennis Federation’s W25 Koksijde tournament in Belgium after losing to American Taylor Ng, 3-6, 6-4, 9-11, in the second round of the qualifying draw on Monday night.
After breezing through in the opening round, 16-year-old Ms. Eala found a tougher challenge in 26-year-old Ms. Ng in the next phase of the $25,000 clay tournament.
The Rafa Nadal Academy scholar fought hard in the contest despite struggling with her serve once again, but in the end, Ms. Ng just had the breaks late in the third set to book the win.
The result was the second straight early exit in a tournament for Ms. Eala after the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) 250 tournament in Romania previously, where she fell in the Round of 16.
Ms. Eala is the number two-ranked junior player in the world and ranked 505th on the WTA. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo