JUST after having a terrific start to the year, Philippine women’s tennis star Alex Eala continues to struggle, slipping out of contention in the WTA L&T Mumbai Open on Wednesday night. 

Eala’s strong start this year has taken a turn for the worse, as she is now out of the singles and doubles tournaments’ Round of 16, marking her second early exit. 

After reaching the semifinals of the Canberra International earlier this year, Eala was unable to continue her momentum and proceed to the following round after losing to Japan’s Mai Hontama 7-6(5), 6-2.

Bounce Back, Alex!

The 19-year-old took an early 3-2 lead in the first set. However, she is unable to outplay Hontama in a closely contested first set, which even reached a tiebreak before her opponent secured the set. 

After losing the first, the Rafa Nadal Academy scholar suffered immensely, resulting in a lopsided 6-2 second set loss to the 25-year-old in an hour and 47 minutes. 

Photo Courtesy: Alex Eala | Facebook

Eala was the favorite going into this match, as Hontama was rated lower than her in the WTA rankings, at No. 166. The Filipina, on the other hand, is ranked 137 in the WTA global rankings.

The 19-year-old tennis player emphasized the need of improving her conditioning before entering this year, which proved to be the primary reason she dropped her most recent game at the Mumbai Open.

“Fitness-wise, there’s a lot of things. I think a general improvement every year is the goal. Of course, being able to endure or to perform with the same intensity and power throughout every single month,” Eala said in December 2024.

Double Whammy 

Meanwhile, in women’s doubles, Eala and Tsao Chia-Yi gave Russia’s second-seeded duo Elena Pridankina and Amina Anshba a run for their money before losing 4-6, 4-6 in their first match of the tournament. 

Eala and Chia-Yi rallied to within a game, 4-5, in the second set, hoping to force a tiebreak, but the Asian team, who won only two of their ten break points, were unable to force their opponents’ hands and were swept. 

She has thus been eliminated early in her past three competitions in the first few months of the year, two of which are Singapore Tennis Open qualifiers and the Australia Open qualifications.

Despite the string of early exits, Eala has the rest of the year to figure out what’s wrong with her recent performances in order to attain her ultimate aim of winning a championship and rising in the WTA rankings.