Filipina teen Alex Eala lost two close sets against Czechia tennister Marie Bouzkova in the opening round of the Jiangxi Open.
Alex Eala couldn’t complete an upset over Czechia hitter Marie Bouzkova, ranked 49th in the world, as Filipina exited her final WTA event of the year at the Jiangxi Open in China on Monday.
Eala, who has been playing in WTA competitions exclusively since the US Open qualifiers, fell in two close sets, 5-7, 6(4)-7 in the Round of 32 of her fourth tournament in China.
The 19-year-old has been busy with WTA action in China for the whole month, beginning with the Wuhan Open where she was a wild card entrant.
Against Bouzkova, who has one singles title in her career, Eala went toe-to-toe but just couldn’t get over the hump. After forcing the 5-5 tie in the opening set, she lost back-to-back games including a service game to go down a set.
Then in the second set, where she forced the tiebreak, she once again fell painstakingly short of forcing the 26-year-old’s hand as she ended up moving on via sweep.
Bouzkova, who is seeded first in the tournament, has a career-high ranking of 24th in the world which she achieved back in December 2022.
Despite the loss, Eala will be returning to Manila for a break with a lot of gained experience in her WTA tournaments — including a trip to the main draw of the Guangzhou Open after winning two qualifying matches.
Eala last won a main draw match in a WTA event in the Guadalajara 125 Open where she reached the Round of 16 before losing to tournament 4-seed Tatjana Maria of Germany in two sets.