There would be no comeback this time for Alex Eala, as she was overpowered in straight sets by second seed Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia, 6-3, 6-2, on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the WTA Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open in the United Arab Emirates.
Less than 24 hours after her marathon three-set triumph over Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus, which lasted two hours and 53 minutes,
Eala returned to the Stadium Court at the Zayed Sports City International Tennis Centre to face the world No. 11. Alexandrova was coming off a dominant second-round win over Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska.
Eala played solid tennis in the opening set, but Alexandrova’s experience and power proved decisive.
Coupled with her booming serves, the 31-year-old Russian still needed just 49 minutes to overcome the Filipina youngster, who fought hard but fell short, 6-3.
The 20-year-old Eala finally took the lead in the second set when she held serve to open the set.
That advantage, however, was short-lived. Alexandrova won the next three games to regain control and cruised to the finish, allowing Eala just two more games before closing out the match in the ninth game.
The contest ended after an hour and 31 minutes, with the crowd favorite sent packing.
Despite the loss, it was a milestone for Eala, who reached the quarterfinals of a WTA 500 event for the first time in her career.
