Swiss pulls plug on Eala’s bid

Alex Eala’s titles aspirations in the Suzhou Open came to a screeching halt Friday after a heartbreaking 6-2, 2-6, 5-7 loss to world No. 70 Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland in the quarterfinal at the Sungent International Tennis Center in Suzhou, China.

The 20-year-old Eala failed to complete a comeback in the third set as she fell to her lower-ranked Swiss foe in two hours and 21 minutes. 

It was Eala’s third three-set match in the competition after pulling off a 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 victory over Kartarzyna Kawa of Poland in their Round of 32 clash and surviving the challenge of Greet Minnen of Belgium, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 7-5, in the Last 16.

Against Golubic, the Rafael Nadal Academy stood her ground as she overcame an early 0-2 deficit by winning the next six games to take the first set.

But the 32-year-old Golubic showed her experience as she took the first four games of the second set en route to a 6-2 victory.

Down 3-5 in the third frame, Eala stormed back by winning the next three games.

But Golubic forced a tiebreak and swept Eala, 7-0, for the victory.

Golubic will face Tatjana Maria of Germany in the semifinal of this Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) 125 tilt that dangles $15,500 to the champion.

As for Eala, she will take home $3,450 (P200,000) for her efforts.

Eala will have a few days to rest before competing in the Wuhan Open, a WTA 1000 event, next week.

She will have to go through the qualifying round as only the Top 56 tennis players were given main draw slots.

Should Eala overcome the qualifying rounds, she will vie against some of the best players in the world, including world No. 2 Iga Swiatek of Poland and world No. 1 and defending champion Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus.