Eala shifts focus to Porsche Tennis Grand Prix debut

Alex Eala

(STAR / Russell Palma)

MANILA, Philippines — After yet another early exit from a clay tournament, Alex Eala enters a quick windup to Germany for her anticipated debut in a tougher Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart next week.

Eala melted down against Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko in a Round 2 sweep but will have a chance to make up for it in the 1000-level tourney after gaining a last-minute main draw ticket for her second tourney in the clay season.

The 20-year-old Filipina, from a ticket in the qualifying round, advanced straight to the main tournament of the German joust set April 13-19 as a replacement for Paris Olympic gold medalist and No. 37 Qinwen Zheng of China.

“Unfortunately, Qinwen has to withdraw due to injury but fans can now look forward to seeing Alexandra step in,” said the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.

But it will not be a walk in the park for the 46th-ranked Filipina in the Women’s Tennis Association, who will also play in the Mutua Madrid Open April 21 to May 3 leading up to the French Open from May 24 to June 7.

If Eala faced an already stronger field in the Upper Austria Ladies Linz Open the other day and bowed out in Round 2 right away, a taller mountain awaits in Germany.

In the fray are No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, No. 2 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, No. 3 Coco Gauff of the United States, No. 4 Iga Swiatek of Poland, No. 7 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine and No. 8 Jasmine Paolini of Italy among the few.

World No. 23 and reigning champion Ostapenko is also in the list after slaying Eala for the first time in Linz, a 500-level tour.

Ostapenko, the 2024 Linz Open and 2017 French Open champion, stamped its veteran pedigree in scoring a 6-4, 7-5 comeback win against Eala.

Eala, who scored a 6-4, 6-3 first-round win against Austria’s No. 1 player Julia Grabher (WTA No. 89), held the upper hand in both sets – 4-2 and 5-1 – only to get shut out by the 28-year-old Latvian the rest of the way.

“Thank you, Linz,” said Eala, looking to climb up the WTA rankings once more as she absorbed a 17-spot drop from a career-best No. 29 last month after falling short of replicating a Final Four finish in the Miami Open with a Last 16 stint.

“Alex is a good player but this year, some good things are happening. I’m beating players who I never beat before so it means I’m on the right way,” beamed Ostapenko, who will face WTA No. 87 Elena-Gabriel Ruse of Romania after her 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 comeback win over No. 49 Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine, in the quarterfinals.

The Filipina tennis pride previously beat Ostapenko in their first two meetings last year with a 7-6 (7-2), 7-5 win in the Miami Open in United States before repeating in the Lexus Eastbourne Open in England, 0-6, 6-3, 3-2.

In both occasions, Eala went on to deep runs by advancing all the way to the semifinals and the finals, respectively, as the first Filipina to do so in any WTA Tour level tournament ever.

But those tournaments were on hard and grass courts, respectively, as Eala’s struggle on clay surface continued.

Eala last year also bowed out early in four clay tournaments, including a 0-6, 6-2, 3-6 defeat to Colombia’s Emiliana Arango in her French Open main draw debut.