Ningbo nightmare: Eala still searching for answers, falls to Russian

The spark that Alex Eala has been looking for remains elusive as she suffered a 5-7, 4-6 loss to world No. 13 Diana Shnaider of Russia in the Round of 16 of the Ningbo Open on Thursday at the Yinzhou Tennis Center in China.

Ranged against a fellow lefty, the 21-year-old Filipina struggled to display her deadly form, leading to yet another dismal setback in the match that lasted for one hour and 55 minutes in this prestigious Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) 500 event.

Despite the straight-set result, Shnaider said the match was far from easy, describing Eala as a dangerous opponent who could make life difficult with her aggressive game.

“I’m obviously very happy with the way I played and competed today because Alex is a very dangerous and tough opponent. She’s another lefty and a big hitter,” Shnaider, a five-time WTA champion whose career best ranking is No. 11, said after the match.

“She never backs down. She steps in and rips the ball, so I knew it was going to be tough. I’m very proud and happy with the way I performed today.”

With the win, the Russian made his way to the quarterfinals, where she will face world No. 12 Iva Jovic of the United States.

True enough, the battle was far from easy. Eala and Shnaider traded service holds in the opening set before the Russian broke through late, taking a 5-4 lead after breaking the Filipina’s serve.

Eala responded with a break to level the score at 5-5, but Shnaider broke back and held serve to take the opening set, 7-5.

The second set saw both players struggle to protect their service games, with Shnaider and Eala exchanging breaks in the first six games before the Filipina finally held serve to move ahead, 4-3.

Shnaider regained control by holding serve and breaking Eala for a 5-4 lead before closing out the set, 6-4, to complete the straight-set victory.

Despite the defeat, Eala will not go home empty-handed as she received $17,795 — or roughly P1.1 million — in prize money, along with ranking points from her Round of 16 finish.

Before the tournament, Eala said she wanted to keep improving after back-to-back early exits at the Singapore Tennis Open and Wuhan Open.

“I’m thankfully experiencing so many new things, so as I experience, of course I learn and try to be a better player, try to be a better person, and yeah, take it step by step,” Eala, who also fell short of winning the gold medal in the women’s singles event of the 20th Asian Games recently, said.

Eala will next head to Japan for the Toray Pan Pacific Open, another WTA 500 tournament, scheduled from 26 October to 1 November at the Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo.

Then, Eala will look to wrap up her WTA season at the Hong Kong Tennis Open from 2 to 6 November, where she made it as far as the Last 16 before losing to world No. 16 Victoria Mboko of Canada last year.

From Japan, Eala is expected to take a break before flying back to the country to see action in a friendly duel with Indonesian Janice Tjen on 8 December at the Philippine Arena.