Alex Eala kicked off her campaign on the wrong foot as she and partner, Jungcheng Shang of China, lost to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain and Yibing Wu of China, 5-7, 6-7, in the mixed doubles event of the MGM Macau Tennis Masters at the Macao Forum in Macau on Saturday.

Eala, who is at No. 53 in the latest Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) ranking, and Shang were at a disadvantage as they went up against two male players in this exhibition event that serves as a warmup for the Australian Open in Melbourne next month.

World No. 9 Mirra Andreeva of Russia was supposed to play in the doubles match but felt under the weather, prompting her to pull out with Fokina serving as her replacement. If everything goes smoothly, Eala will face Andreeva on Sunday at 2 p.m. (Manila time).

Despite having a massive disadvantage, the 20-year-old Eala enjoyed playing in her first event after her gold medal victory in the 33rd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Thailand last week.

“Maybe it was more fun for me than it is for Jerry (Shang),” Eala said.

Even Wu, who is No. 54 in the Association of Tennis Professionals rankings, was left impressed with how the 20-year-old Rafael Nadal Academy graduate was able to keep up despite the event being just a mere exhibition match.

“Respect to the players. Her return serve is great, and I like her two-handed backhand,” Wu said.

After back-and-forth break points in the first set and tied at 5-5, Wu and Fokina broke serve once more before holding their serves in the 12th game to take the lead.

Down 5-6 in the second set, Eala and Shang, who are part of Team Li Na, held their serve and forced a race-to-seven tiebreaker for the match point.

However, the Filipino-Chinese duo lost steam as they lost to the netters of Team Conchita Martinez.

Before she kicked off her campaign, she joined an open forum with Li and Martinez as they discussed their experiences with their careers.

Eala shared her experience in dealing with failure at an early age as she reflected on her journey into the top 100 of the WTA rankings.

“Being a tennis player, you learn to fail a lot. For example, I compete 30 plus weeks a year, and I only didn’t lose once or twice this year, and that’s already pretty great,” said Eala, who became a professional player in 2020, said in the pre-tournament press conference.

“I think tennis players, you kind of build the tolerance, and more than that, it’s just to surround yourself with people who believe in you when you don’t believe in yourself.”

Eala is thankful for having a supportive team with her, as well as her family’s support in her tennis career.

“I think at the end of the day, parents will be parents, and you’ll always be their daughter or son,” Eala said.

“I feel like family, they’ve known you since you grew up. They’ll keep you grounded for sure.”

Regardless of the result, the MGM Macau Tennis Masters serves as part of Eala’s preparation for her main draw debut in the Australian Open on 17 January at Melbourne Park.

After her Macau stint, she will be in New Zealand for the Auckland Classic from 5 to 11 January before going to Australia for the Kooyong Classic on 13 January in Melbourne.