Eala skips Aussie Open for Manacor events

Alex Eala: Three tournaments —INQUIRER PHOTO

Despite a bleak off-season, Alex Eala is confident to begin her campaign in Spain where she captured her first-ever pro title.

In fact, the Filipino hotshot is set to have a running start with three tournaments in a row in Manacor.

Eala wasn’t able to finish her preseason training in Miami, Florida, because she contracted COVID-19 during the Christmas season, according to her father Mike Eala.

And right after recovering, she then had to go back to Mallorca, Spain, where she is a 10th grade scholar at Rafael Nadal Academy (RNA).

“Thankfully, it wasn’t severe. But she (Alex) got the symptoms with high fever,” said the elder Eala.

She was to face Slovenian Ella Hojnik, a fellow 16-year-old, on Sunday in the first round of the qualifying of the W25 Manacor.

Last year, Eala won her breakthrough tournament when she bagged the W15 Manacor, which is also being held inside the RNA campus.

There will be two more tournaments in the same venue in the coming weeks as Eala skipped the Australian Open where she won the girls doubles title two years ago.

Mike, who joined her daughter in Spain, said Alex’s coaches decided that she focus more on women’s tournaments as she carries a ranking of 527th in the Women’s Tennis Association. INQ