Eala’s U.S. Open dreams vanish

Alex Eala came short of making the main draw of the US Open after being dealt a 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 defeat Friday by world No. 61 Elena Gabriela Ruse of Romania in her third and final qualifying match at Flushing Meadows in New York City.

Despite the setback, the 19-year-old Eala, a product of the Rafael Nadal Tennis Academy in Mallorca, Spain, remained upbeat.

“I was so close to achieving a big goal of mine, but today it was not meant to be. Nevertheless, this week has been nothing short of a thrilling dream and playing in this atmosphere is something I have never experienced before and would not trade for the world,” Eala said.

“I want to thank everyone who watched and cheered me earlier, either in person or on the livestream. Thank you especially to my family, to the people who missed work, and to those who traveled far just to watch my game.”

Eala is hoping she still would be able to make it into the main draw as a Lucky Loser but that will be easier said than done.

Apart from making it to the third qualifying round, the two-time Asian Games bronze medalist will have to wait for one of the main draw players to withdraw and pray her Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) ranking is high enough to get in.

Eala is currently at No. 148 in the WTA rankings and already missed out on the main draw of the French Open and the Wimbledon Championships prior to entering the US Open.

In the final Grand Slam of the year, Eala actually looked poised to make it to the main draw after beating Maddison Inglis of Australia, 6-3, 2-6, 6-1, in the first qualifying round last Wednesday.

In the second qualifying round last Thursday, Eala pulled off an upset over No. 99 Nuria Parrizas-Diaz of Spain after a 7-5, 7-5 sweep.

Losing to Diaz was deja vu for Eala, who lost to Julia Riera of Argentina, 6-4, 6-7, 4-6, last May in the French Open and to Lulu Sun of New Zealand in Wimbledon last June, 6-7, 5-7, in the same phase of the qualifying round.

Eala will have to wait until January 2025 to have another shot of making a debut in a Grand Slam by joining the Australian Open.

This year’s Australian Open saw Eala fizzle out as early as the first qualifying round after a 2-6, 5-7 loss to Rebecca Peterson of Switzerland.