Mertens boots Eala out of Madrid Open

Alex Eala’s singles campaign in the Madrid Open comes to a close after a 2-6, 1-6 loss to world No. 21 Elise Mertens of Belgium in the Round of 64 in Spain on Friday.

Eala, 20, lost after one hour and 16 minutes as she equals her best finish from last year’s edition of this Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) 1000 tournament.

She will take home 31,585 euros or around P2.2 million for her efforts.

The Rafael Nadal Academy alumna isn’t done playing in Spain as she and No. 67 Zeynep Sonmez of Turkey will compete in the Last 16 of the women’s doubles on Sunday against Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic and Taylor Townsend of the United States.