By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Filipina Alex Eala needs to improve her stamina if she is to go deep in future tournaments.
Eala’s weakness was again exposed in her 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-1 loss to second pick Anna Bondar of Hungary in their quarterfinal showdown in the W75 Porto in Portugal on Friday, Feb. 23.
The 18-year-old unseeded Filipina recovered mightily from an opening-set stumble but failed to sustain her momentum and eventually bowed to her fancied foe.
This was the second time that Eala lost to Bondar in the ITF circuit, but this time she was able to extend the match to a deciding third set.
They first met in the first qualifying round at the Mutua Madrid Open in Spain in 2022 with the Hungarian romping to a 6-0, 6-0 win.
Prior to her defeat in the $75,000 International Tennis Federation (ITF) event, Eala opened her bid in style with straight-sets victories over Cyprus’ Raluca Georgiana Serban, 6-4, 6-2, and Ukraine’s Katarina Zavatska, 6-0, 6-3.
It was a double blackeye for Eala as she also lost her quarters doubles match with British partner Ali Collins, 6-3, 6-4, at the expense of Great Britain’s Alicia Barnett and Germany’s Anna-Len Friedsam.
She and Collins started their campaign with a hard-fought 7-6 (3), 4-6, 11-9 win over India’s Vasanti Shinde and Romania’s Anca Alexia Todoni in the opening round.
