By JEREMIAH SEVILLA
Swiss Simona Waltert is fast turning out to be the scourge of Alex Eala.
Unable to sustain a strong start, Eala crashed out of the W60 Bellinzona tournament in Switzerland after losing to hometown bet Simona Waltert for the second straight time, 7-5, 3-6, 6-2, in the third round on Thursday (early Friday morning in Manila).
Eala, 15, raced to a 4-1 lead in the opening set but the 20-year-old Waltert staged a furious comeback to win six of the next seven games.
The Filipino teen tennis star bounced back in the second set as she once again went on a fiery 5-1 start and foiled her Swiss rival’s fightback this time.
Eala, however, was unraveled in the fourth game of the pivotal set when she bungled a 30-0 advantage that enabled Waltert to gain more confidence and dictate the tempo of the game.
In the quarterfinals, Waltert will face Jana Fett of Croatia.
Eala walloped Waltert, 6-1, 6-4, in their first encounter back in the W25 Manacor in Spain last month but the latter retaliated with a hard-earned 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 win in their second faceoff in the W15 Manacor a week later.
“It was a good week for me here and (I) look forward to coming back,” said Eala through her Facebook page.
It was indeed a great campaign for the Rafael Nadal Academy scholar as she won two matches in her first $60,000 tourney.
Eala beat Margot Yerolymos of France, 7-6 (8), 6-2, in the opening round before pulling the rug from under 12th seed Laura-Ioana Paar of Romania, 6-7 (8), 6-1, 6-0, in the Round of 32.
