By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Playing both singles and doubles in a day proved costly once again for Asian Games double medalist Alex Eala.
After her splendid showing in the qualifying round, Eala ran out of tricks in the crucial stretch of the opening set and went on to suffer a 7-5, 6-0 defeat to world No. 36 Elise Bertens of Belgium in the Jasmin Open Monastir in Tunisia on Tuesday, Oct. 17.
Eala, who had to go through two qualifying matches before barging into the main draw, produced shots that whistled like powerful winds to surprisingly go up 5-1 in the first set.
But the Belgian, who was ranked No. 1 in the doubles, dodged the upset ax by winning the next seven games to take the opening frame in a stretch that saw her unleash incredible shots that all but disarmed the hot-starting Filipina.
The meltdown was like a pill hard to swallow that Eala’s game started to fall apart which the Belgian exploited to the max to score a bagel in the next set.
It was a bad day for Eala that she and Romania’s Oana Gavrila lost to second seed Cristina Bucsa of Spain and Bibiane Schoofs of the Netherlands, 6-3, 6-4, in the doubles.
Bertens banked on her strong serves, where she fired six aces to make up for nine double faults.
A victory for Eala could have arranged her a second-round meeting with Iryna Shymanovich, who toppled Brazil’s Laura Pigossi, 6-3, 6-2.
In the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, Eala captured two bronze medals in the singles and mixed doubles.
