The magical run of Alex Eala and Janice Tjen came to an end on Friday, halted by a more cohesive duo.
Eala and Tjen absorbed a 6-4, 6-3 loss to fourth seeds Olivia Nicholls of Great Britain and Tereza Mihalikova of the Slovak Republic in the doubles semifinals of the WTA Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open at the Stadium Court of the Zayed Sports City International Tennis Centre.
The Filipino–Indonesian duo entered the match riding the momentum of a dominant quarterfinal victory over second seeds Zhang Shuai of China, an Australian Open champion, and Cristina Bucsa of Spain, who reached the finals of the WTA 500 Brisbane International earlier this January.
But in the semifinals, Eala and Tjen — teaming up for the first time — quickly learned that the established chemistry of Nicholls and Mihalikova, partners since June 2024, proved more difficult to break than the individual brilliance of their previous opponents.
The opening set came down to execution in crucial moments. Eala and Tjen earned multiple break points in the third and seventh games but failed to convert.
The first nine games held serve before Nicholls and Mihalikova finally broke through on Tjen’s serve in the tenth game, capitalizing on a double break point to seal the set, 6-4.
In the second set, Eala and Tjen struggled to impose their groundstroke advantage. Nicholls and Mihalikova dictated play with quicker net approaches, building an impenetrable wall at the forecourt.
The British–Slovak tandem raced to a 3-0 lead. Eala and Tjen continued to fight, but could only close the gap to 3-1 before Nicholls and Mihalikova closed out the match after just eight games.
Eala and Tjen will now turn their attention to the WTA 1000 Qatar TotalEnergies Open in Doha, where both have earned automatic berths in the main draw of the singles competition.
