FILE – Alex Eala of Philippines serves against Lucie Havlickova of Czech Republic during their Junior Girl’s Singles Final match on Day Thirteen of the 2022 US Open at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 10, 2022 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. Sarah Stier/Getty Images/AFP
MANILA, Philippines—Alex Eala bowed out in the first round of the Open Villa De Tauste-Tomas Arrieta & Altra Logistica singles tournament but barged into the doubles quarterfinals on Wednesday in Spain.
Eala, the third seed of the W25+H Tauste-Zaragoza, fell to Destanee Aiava of Australia, 1-6, 2-6, absorbing her first Round of 32 exit after reaching the quarterfinals of her past three International Tennis Federation (ITF) tournaments.
The 18-year-old Filipino forced a 1-1 tie in the opening set but the Aussie started to dominate by winning five straight games to draw first blood and carrying her momentum in the second set with a 5-1 start before knocking out the former in an hour and 24 minutes.
It was Eala’s first opening-round exit after a strong showing in her past three tournaments including her third pro championship in W25 Yecla.
Despite the early singles exit, the Filipino prodigy jumpstarted her doubles campaign with Indonesian partner Beatrice Gumulya on a high note as the Southeast Asian pair took down Yvonne Cavalle-Reimers of Spain and Elena Milovanovic of Serbia, 6-2, 6-1.
Eala is competing in the doubles for the first time since April in W60 Chiasso in Switzerland.
Eala and Gumulya advanced to the quarterfinals, facing Alana Parnaby of Australia and Victoria Rodriguez of Mexico on Wednesday evening (Manila time).
The Mexican-Aussie pair survived Australia’s duo Talia Gibson and Petra Hule, 7-5, 6(5)-7, 10-4, in their opening match.
Eala graduated from the Rafael Nadal Academy last week.