ALEX M. Eala missed a main draw berth in her first event this year after falling short in the final qualifying round of the W25 Manacor late on Tuesday night at the Rafael Nadal Academy (RNA) in Spain.
Buoyed by two straight wins, the 16-year-old Filipina prodigy could not sustain the momentum against a more seasoned opponent in Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) No. 375 Alice Rame of France en route to a sorry 6-2, 6-4 defeat.
Ms. Eala actually enjoyed a 3-0 cushion in the second set over the 24-year-old French for a chance at forging a decider but she faltered and surrendered six of the last seven games.
She previously trounced Slovenia’s Ella Hojnik, 6-1, 6-1 before overcoming Mia Chudejová of Slovakia with a 7-6, 6-3 victory to move a win away from entering the main competition of the $25,000 event.
Ms. Eala, the WTA No. 526 and world junior No. 8, also failed to maximize her homecourt advantage in RNA where she’s a scholar under the wings of Spanish legend (Rafa) Nadal.
Last year, the left-handed wunderkind captured her breakthrough professional title by ruling the W15 Manacor in the same venue.
Ms. Eala opted to skip the ongoing Australian Open, where she won the juniors doubles crown in 2020 with Indonesian pal Priska Madelyn Nugroho, to focus more in the women’s professional circuit. — John Bryan Ulanday
