The dreaded “Czech curse” continues to haunt Alex Eala.
Ranged against a crafty top-rated netter from central Europe in Karolina Muchova, Eala crumbled to pressure and suffered a heartbreaking 0-6, 2-6 setback to end her dream run in the Miami Open early Tuesday (Manila time) at the Hard Rock Stadium in Florida.
Muchova, who was at No. 14 in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) ranking, was obviously the better player as she was able to withstand Eala’s furious rallies with her experience, precision and tactical variety from start to finish.
In the end, the 20-year-old Eala admitted that Muchova showed up prepared, leaving her groping for form, especially in the opening set where she was dealt with a bagel.
“I think she played really well… and I definitely did not play my best, but of course, that’s also a big part because of how she played,” said Eala, who simply couldn’t break into that imposing Czech brick wall.
In fact, the Filipina has yet to win over a Czech opponent for the 13th consecutive time after bowing to stars like Tereza Valentova, Linda Noskova, Marketa Vondrousova, Barbora Krejcikova, Linda Fruhvirtova, Marie Bouzkova, Katerina Siniakova, Tereza Martincova, Gabriela Knutson and Anastasia Zarycka in her recent matches.
The 29-year-old Muchova stressed that she went hard at the Filipina early, fully knowing that giving her a chance to gain momentum would be very dangerous to her bid to win her third singles title in this prestigious WTA 1000 event.
“I just wanted to control the game because I know she can be very dangerous, especially here. I tried to control the game, keep myself at the baseline, play aggressive, and yeah, it worked so far pretty good,” said Muchova, the former world No. 8 who took advantage of Eala’s error-laden opening set to gain a 4-0 lead and dictate the tempo the rest of the way.
“When you keep winning, then as well, I have thoughts like, ‘okay, I still have to keep focus’ and then keep pressuring the player.”
Despite the painful setback, which serves as a reality check to her Cinderella run in the same event last year, the Filipina still has a lot of positives to look forward to in her season.
For one, she remains within the top 50 in the WTA ranking as she is expected to drop from No. 29 to No. 45. She will also be able to walk away with a cool P6.3 million for reaching as far as the Last 16 of this event that serves as one of the toughest and most prestigious tourneys outside the Grand Slam.
But the biggest takeaway is that she is still viable to compete in high-level tournaments. Since she’s within the top 50, Eala will retain her access in various 250, 500 and 1000 rated events.
And for as long as she stays competitive, making it back to top 30 will be quite easy.
“I know I’ve been taking the right steps and approaching it in the right way in terms of what I need to do on court. So that gives me calmer,” Eala said.
“And fortunately, I’ve been doing well between last year’s Miami and this year’s Miami, so I’m in a position where this tournament is not all or nothing. You know what I mean?”
With her Miami Open campaign in the books, Eala will now focus on resting after a grueling season on the hard court.
Her next destination will be Austria where she will compete in the Upper Austria Ladies Linz Open at the Design Center Linz from 6 to 12 April to kick off her clay season.
Familiar foes like world No. 16 Clara Tauson of Denmark, No. 23 Emma Raducanu of Great Britain and defending champion and No. 11 Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia are expected to test Eala’s mettle in this prestigious WTA 500 event.