Twin defeats send Eala packing; Barty reaches final

Australia’s Ashleigh Barty chases down a return against Germany’s Angelique Kerber. —AFP

Alex Eala’s Grand Slam dreams will have to wait a little bit longer.

After twin defeats at Wimbledon, she needs just one day to shake things off and then go back to the courts once again.

“She’s ok, She’ll take the day off today and spend time with us before making her way to Milan tomorrow for another J1 tournament,” said her father Mike via a message on Friday. Mike Eala and the whole family joined Alex in London.

The 16-year-old tennis wonder, seeded second in the girls’ division, suffered a second round upset to unseeded Ane Mintegi del Olmo of Spain, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5, in singles late Thursday.

Then early Friday (Manila time), she and partner Priska Nugroho of Indonesia fell to Chelsea Fontenel of Switzerland and Ashlyn Krueger of the United States, 6-4, 4-6 (11-9).

It was Eala’s second straight early exit in a Grand Slam singles, having been upset in the first round of the French Open two months ago.

The World No. 3 in juniors already has two Grand Slam doubles titles under her belt.

Meanwhile, Ashleigh Barty is one victory away from realizing her dream of winning the Wimbledon title on the 50th anniversary of fellow indigenous Australian Evonne Goolagong Cawley’s first triumph.

The 25-year-old world No. 1 produced her best performance of The Championships so far to beat 2018 champion Angelique Kerber 6-3, 7-6 (3).

Barty will play former world No. 1 Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic in Saturday’s final.

Pliskova came from a set down to beat powerful Belarusian second seed Aryna Sabalenka, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.

Barty said she had not spoken to Cawley since the tournament began.

However, as she has done since the outset, she wore the specially-designed dress in tribute to her mentor’s iconic scallop one she wore in 1971.

“To give myself a chance to create some history almost in a way that’s a tribute to her is really exciting,” said Barty.

—WITH A REPORT FROM AFP