FILE – Alex Eala at the W60 Canberra. ALEX EALA FACEBOOK
MANILA, Philippines — Alex Eala failed to reach the finals of the W60 Trnava doubles as she and her Lithuanian partner Justina Mikulskyte yielded to Alicia Barnett and Olivia Nicholls of Great Britain, 4-6, 1-6, in the semifinal on Friday evening (Manila time)at TC Empire indoor hard court in Slovakia.
Eala and Mikulskyte took a 3-1 lead in the first set but Barnett and Nicholls recovered and tied the set twice before winning back-to-back games to draw the first blood.
The top-seeded pair unleashed a 5-0 start in the second set and never looked back to reach the finals.
Eala and Mikulskyte opened their campaign with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Ela Platenikova and Nina Vargova of Slovakia and swept the German No. 4 seeds Vivian Heisen and Julia Lohoff, 7-5, 6-4, in the quarterfinal.
A professional doubles crown remained elusive for the 17-year-old Filipino.
The Rafael Nadal Academy scholar also competed in the W60 Trnava singles but she bowed out in the second round, falling to British Sonay Kartal, 2-6, 2-6.
Eala started her campaign with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Spanish sixth seed Leyre Romero Gormaz.
Eala, the WTA World No. 220, is still eyeing her third ITF women’s singles championship after ruling the 2021 W15 Manacor in Spain and last year’s W25 Chiang Rai in Thailand.