Alex Eala endured a brutal back-to-back stretch, dropping a heartbreaking three-set match in Suzhou on Friday before traveling 745 kilometers to Wuhan, only to suffer another tough defeat on Saturday.
The long journey proved costly for Eala as she fell to Japan’s world No. 92 Moyuka Uchijima, 4-6, 6-3, 2-6, in the first qualifying round of the Dongfeng Voyah Wuhan Open in China.
The 20-year-old Filipina had just played her third consecutive marathon match at the WTA 125 Suzhou Ladies Open, where she lost to Swiss veteran Viktorija Golubic, 6-2, 2-6, 6-7 (0), in the quarterfinals.
Immediately after that match, she boarded a plane to Wuhan to try her luck in the main draw of the final WTA 1000 event of the year.
Uchijima, who also competed in Suzhou, had been eliminated in the first round there.
Seeded fifth in the Wuhan qualifiers, Eala battled fatigue and an injury scare against the 24-year-old Uchijima, who earlier this year reached the second round of both the Australian Open and the US Open and achieved a career-high ranking of No. 47 in May.
Eala struggled to find her rhythm early, playing catch-up throughout the first set at the Center Court of the Optics Valley International Tennis Centre.
Uchijima broke in the opening game and took a 3-1 lead. Eala evened the score at 3-3, but Uchijima claimed the next two games to go up 5-3 and ultimately sealed the set after 40 minutes.
The Japanese player once again broke to start the second set, leading 1-0.
Eala went ahead 2-1 for the first time, only for Uchijima to level at 2-2. From a 3-3 deadlock, Eala rallied, winning three straight games to force a decider—the fourth consecutive match in which she was pushed to a third set.
However, the Filipina appeared fatigued in the third set, falling behind 3-0 despite multiple deuces in each game.
She called for a medical timeout to have her right leg taped, but the pause only delayed the inevitable.
Uchijima captured three of the next five games to close out the match after two hours and eleven minutes.
Uchijima now needs one more victory to qualify for the Wuhan main draw, facing China’s world No. 152 Wang Xiyu on Sunday.
Wang, ranked No. 49 two years ago, defeated world No. 67 Cristina Bucsa of Spain in three sets on Saturday—the same Bucsa who had eliminated Eala in the second round of the US Open last August.
