NOT EVEN a court change could stop the Alexandra “Alex” Eala storm in Nagoya.
Ms. Eala, the tournament’s No. 1 seed, hardly broke a sweat in dispatching Patcharin Cheapchandej of Thailand, 6-1, 6-0, in the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games (Asiad) women’s tennis Round of 16 on Monday at the smaller Indoor Court C at the Higashiyama Park Tennis Center in Japan.
The highly-anticipated match serving as Ms. Eala’s debut after gaining a bye in the Round of 32 was supposedly at the center court of the grand tennis venue but heavy downpour caused delays and forced the organizers to move the games to the smaller practice courts inside with little to no fanfare.
And it hardly made a difference for Ms. Eala, a staple in bigger venues and crowd in every city for the WTA Tour, who proved that she’s in a league of her own in the near double bagel win en route to the quarterfinals.
Up against the lower-ranked Thai rival (WTA No. 517), the world No. 18 Ms. Eala surrendered just one game in the first set after a blazing 4-0 start before a more clinical showing in the second set.
The 21-year-old tennis darling scored a love game in the sixth capped by an ace to score the win in only 56 minutes of play and arrange a Last 8 duel against No. 143 Joanna Garland of Chinese Taipei, the No. 8 seed, who also made short work of No. 1030 Mandegar Farzami of Iran.
A win by Ms. Eala would assure at least a bronze medal for Team Philippines albeit the ultimate goal is gold to add to a scarce tally with only two golds so far courtesy of gymnast Carlos Yulo.
Ms. Eala netted two bronze medals in her debut in the 2023 Hangzhou Games (women’s singles, mixed doubles) all before her meteoric international rise that catapulted her to the world’s top and most popular players today.
With the absence of reigning gold medalist Zheng Qinwen of China, world No. 1 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, No. 17 Naomi Osaka of Japan and No. 49 Janice Tjen of Indonesia, she’s out to hoist a twin gold this time around, partnering with Shaira Hope Rivera in the women’s doubles.
They will play Lai Ching Laam and Kallista Liu of Hong Kong in the first round. Winner advances in Round 2 against the No. 3 seed pair of Xinyu Jiang and Zhaoxuan Yang of China.
Rivera, with veteran partner Niño Alcantara, also took care of business in the mixed doubles by scoring a 6-4, 1-6, 10-8 Round 1 win against Iran’s Meshkatolzahra Safi and Kasra Rahmani.
They will face bets Shuko Aoyama and Yusuke Kusuhara in the Round of 16 for a slot in the quarterfinals.
The Asiad is serving as Ms. Eala’s second tournament in the Asian swing albeit not part of the WTA Tour after a flat start in Singapore, where she was seeded third only to fall against No. 180 Tatiana Prozorova of Russia in the Round of 16, 6-4, 5-7, 3-6.
She sacrificed the mandatory WTA 1000 China Open in Beijing at the same period as the Asiad for a possible $10,000 fine from the WTA.
And come hell or high water, she’s out to make the most of it — not only for her blooming career but for flag and country. — John Bryan Ulanday