Slumping Eala draws support after shock Wuhan exit

Alex Eala was showered with support despite suffering a painful exit in the opening round of the Wuhan Open.

The 21-year-old Filipina sensation was sent packing in this prestigious Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) 1000 event following a shocking 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 loss to Chinese qualifier Shi Han in the Round of 64 of the women’s singles event.

Her uncle, former Philippine Sports Commission chairman Noli Eala, said the loss the loss serves as a wakeup call Eala and her team to regroup and bounce back stronger in her next tournament — the Ningbo Open — next week.

“Alex meantime was simply outplayed. Just not the usual spunk or energy in her game. Time for Alex to really regroup. A very disappointing loss,” Noli Eala, the first cousin of Eala’s father, Mike, said in a social media post.

“Despite the disappointment, there’s still so much going for Alex. She has a terrific team working with her, a wonderful support group and most of all, she has time on her side. Lots of time to figure this out.”

Seeded 13th, Eala, who missed last week’s China Open in order to compete in the 20th Asian Games, where she claimed a bronze medal, marched to warzone with massive advantage in experience over the unheralded Chinese, who is ranked outside the top 200 and has yet to win against a top 20 opponent since turning pro in 2022.

Worst, prior to facing Eala, Shi has only two wins in a tour-level tournament under her belt.

Meanwhile, Eala is ranked 19 in the world, a title winner on the WTA Tour and a former semifinalist at the WTA 1000 level. She is also regarded as the most popular player in the tour as she draws massive crowd during her stints in Grand Slam events from Melbourne to New York, Paris and London.

But for large stretches of their showdown, their contrasting positions were completely unnoticeable.

Eala shook off trouble on her own serve and converted her first break point opportunity of the match to scoop the opening set in 54 minutes.

The second set followed a similar pattern, but this time, Shi utilized her powerful backhand to break Eala for a 4-3 advantage and she soon drew level to force a decider.

Riding a wave of momentum, Shi grabbed a seventh game in a row to leap to a 3-0 lead in the final set as Eala faded.

Shi finished the job to claim the first tour-level top-100 victory of her career and book a second-round date with former US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez.

Former world No. 9 Andrea Petkovic of Germany also defended Eala, saying a defeat should not be treated as an embarrassment and that losing is part of competition.

“A loss is a loss, and a win is a win. You move on. Nothing about that is embarrassing,” said Petkovic, who also stood by Eala’s side when the WTA threatened to penalize her for snubbing the China Open.

“The only thing that’s a little embarrassing, and what I don’t like, is when people don’t try. But have you ever seen Alex Eala not give her absolute best at all times? I haven’t, and I don’t think we ever will.”

Still, the Wuhan exit does little to erase what has been a breakthrough 2026 season for the Filipina, who climbed to a career-high world No. 18 after being outside the top 100 a year ago.

She also scored notable victories over world No. 1 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan and world No. 6 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, reached the fourth round of Wimbledon in July and captured her first WTA title at the Washington Open in August.

In Washington, Eala defeated Svitolina, former world No. 1 Naomi Osaka of Japan and world No. 4 Jessica Pegula of the United States on her way to the title.