Eala quickly shown the door at Qatar Open
MANILA, Philippines — Filipina tennis ace Alex Eala had an early exit from the Qatar TotalEnergies Open after falling against qualifier Tereza Valentova, 6-7(8/6), 1-6, Monday evening (Manila time).
Eala, who reached a career-high ranking of World No. 40, was dominated by the World No. 48 Czech in the second set after a grueling first-set tiebreak.
Valentova seemingly continued to have the number of Eala, as the former defeated the latter in the Japan Women’s Open last year.
The Filipina actually held a 5-4 and 6-5 leads in the first set, but her opponent climbed out of the hole to force the tiebreak.
There, Valentova outlasted Eala in the extended tiebreak.
This swung the momentum to the pride of Czechia, who held a 5-0 lead in the second frame.
Eala prevented being blanked, 1-5, but the deficit was too great to overcome as Valentova won the match in an hour and 32 minutes.
Valentova punched in three aces in the match.
Eala’s exit in Qatar came after the Filipina lefty fell in the quarterfinal round in the Abu Dhabi Open.
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