Alex Eala could not pull off another escape act as she fell to Australia’s Alexandra Bozovic, 6-1, 4-6, 5-7, in the Round of 16 of the W25 Seixal Ladies Open at the Clube Recreativo e Desportivo Brasileira Rouxinol in Portugal on Thursday.
After a dominant first set, Eala found herself staring at a 2-5 deficit as Bozovic found her groove in the second set. The 17-year-old Filipina rallied to narrow the score at 4-5, but Bozovic held on to extend the match to a tiebreak.
Eala regained control of the match in the deciding set after breaking away from a 3-all deadlock to go up 5-3. Bozovic, however, would find enough gas left in her tank to stage a rally and pocket the next four games to close out the match which lasted roughly three and a half hours.
It was a tough loss for the Filipina teen star who also exited in the Round of 16 of the W25 Open Generali Ciudad del Palma de Rio event in Spain the previous week.
Eala returned to the court less than three hours later to partner with Filipina-Australian Lizette Cabrera in the quarterfinals of the doubles competition.
The pair, though, had to contend with top seeds Justina Mikulskyte of Lithuania and Hong Yi Cody Wong of Hongkong. Eala and Cabrera dropped two close sets to Mikulskyte and Wong, 5-7, 4-6.
