Eala falls short of Wimby spot

Alex Eala has to wait before formally seeing action in the main draw of a Grand Slam event.

The 19-year-old netter fell short of making it to the main draw of Wimbledon following a 6-7, 5-7 loss to Lulu Sun of New Zealand in the third qualifying round.

The Filipina sensation put on a solid fight for one hour and 40 minutes before bowing to Sun, who gained a ticket to the main draw of the prestigious grass-court tourney.

Eala’s performance was quite similar to what happened last May in which she moved closer to the main draw of the French Open After winning over Ma Yexin of China, 6-1, 6-1, and Taylah Preston of Australia, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5, in her first two qualifying matches.

But a 6-4, 6-7, 4-6 loss to Julia Riera of Argentina in the third qualifying match dashed away her hopes of making it into the main draw of Roland Garros.

In Wimbledon, Eala won over Jessika Ponchet of France, 7-6, 6-4, in the first qualifying round before surviving Tamara Zidanšek of Slovenia, 1-6, 7-6, 6-3, in the second qualifying round.

Eala has one more chance this year to enter the main draw of a Grand Slam event — the US Open — that starts on 26 August.

With that, she has to compete in various tournaments to raise her current ranking of 162.