Alex Eala officially bows out of the Abu Dhabi Open after she and Janice Tjen of Indonesia suffered a 4-6, 2-6 loss to Tereza Mihalíková of the Czech Republic and Olivia Nicholls of Great Britain in the women’s doubles semifinal at the Zayed Sports City International Tennis Centre on Friday (Manila time).
The Southeast Asian duo battled for one hour and 16 minutes but it wasn’t enough as their first-ever women’s doubles stint ended.
Both netters will share the $21,720 prize money, or around P 1.2 million for their efforts in this prestigious Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) 500 tilt.
Eala and Tjen first defeated Filipino-Canadian Leylah Fernandez and 5-7, 6-3, 10-6, in the Round of 16 before sweeping past Zhang Shuai of China and Cristina Bucsa of Spain, 6-3, 6-3, in the quarterfinal.
Eala will now shift her focus to the Qatar Open, a WTA 1000 event which starts on Sunday at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex in Doha.