By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
For the second-straight time in her professional circuit campaign, Filipina tennis ace Alex Eala failed to qualify in the next round after dropping her opening game against Tatjana Maria of Germany- 1.6, 1.6- during the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Madrid Open last April 26, 2023, held at the La Caja Magica in Madrid, Spain.
The 17-year-old star just struggled against the more-experienced German who just ran over her with her powerful baseline game.
To make things worse, Eala kicked off the match with tons of service errors that haunted her until the second set.
With Eala having an unfortunate service game while receiving several down-the-line forehand winners from Maria, the Filipina attempted to change the complexion of the game when she threw lob shots in hopes of disrupting the German’s rhythm.
However, the strategy didn’t work for the young Filipina as Maria adjusted quickly and was always ready in the net area to smash Eala’s lob strokes.
Left with limited offensive options, Eala decided to pull off the drop ball strategy in an attempt to tire the German veteran out but still failed to score more points as Maria saw it coming after two long rallies.
This is the second time that Eala fell in the first round of the prestigious major tennis tournament after receiving the same wildcard slot last year.
Last month, Eala also failed to progress during the W60 Chiasso tennis tournament held in Switzerland on April 13, 2023.
The highest-ranked Filipina ace wasn’t in her best shape when she fought Alexandra Cadantu-Ignatik of Romania and bowed out in just two-straight sets- 6.0, 6.2- in the Round of 32 singles category.
Eala will now return to her training camp and will seek a better International Tennis Federation (ITF) circuit showing in the next few months to help her point boost.
