MANILA, Philippines – For the third straight Grand Slam event, Alex Eala found herself coming close but falling short.
The 19-year-old Eala will have about five more months to get another crack at a Grand Slam after she suffered a three-set defeat to Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, in the last round of the US Open qualifying tournament on Thursday, August 22 (Friday, August 23, Philippine time).
It was another near-miss for the world No. 144 Eala, who was bidding to become the first Filipina in history to make the main draw of a Grand Slam.
Earlier this year, Eala also came just a win short of earning a spot in the main draw of the French Open and Wimbledon.
Eala had her chances against the former world No. 51 Ruse, a veteran of all four Grand Slam events who reached the second round of the Australian Open and the US Open in 2022.
The Filipina, in fact, was in the thick of the fight all throughout the last set, even holding a 3-2 lead.
But the turning point of the match came in the seventh game when Eala dropped her serve for the seventh time in the match.
As the 26-year-old Ruse built a 5-3 advantage, Eala managed to trim the deficit to 5-4, but that proved to be her final stand as the Romanian ended the match in the 10th game.
Eala, though, got off to a solid start when she extricated herself from a 2-2 deadlock in the opening set by surging ahead to 5-2, making short work of her Romanian foe in just 36 minutes.
Ruse, however, seized control in the second set, jumping to a 4-0 advantage after breaking Eala twice, and copping the set after just seven games to set the stage for a thrilling decider.
It was a sorry exit for Eala, who posted impressive victories in the first two rounds of the qualifiers, prevailing over Maddison Inglis of Australia in the opener, 6-3, 2-6, 6-1, then following it up with a 7-5, 7-5 triumph over world No. 99 Nuria Párrizas Díaz of Spain in the second round. – Rappler.com
