By NIKOLE JAVIER
For the second time, Alex Eala suffered a 7-6 (7-3), 7-5 defeat to New Zealand’s Lulu Sun in the third and final qualifying round, a loss that ruined her bid to play in the main draw of the Wimbledon Championships in Great Britain on Thursday night, June 27.
Just last month on her 19th birthday, the young tennis sensation moved a win away from qualifying into the main draw of her first women’s singles major tournament in the French Open only to yield to Julia Riera of Argentina in three sets in her quest to become the first Filipina to play in a Grand Slam event.
This time, Eala nearly forged a path for herself to the majors when she prevailed over an even higher-ranked Tamara Zidansek of Slovenia a day before with a 1-6, 7-6 (9), 6-3 victory just after turning back France’s Jessika Ponchet, 7-6 (1), 6-4, in the first round of the qualifying.
Eala and the 23rd-seeded Sun engaged in a nip-and-tuck affair and dragged the opening set to a tiebreak, with the Filipina wielding all her might to gain the head start.
Sun, however, proved to be the better player .
In the second set, Eala, 19, jumped to a promising 2-0 lead, before Sun regained full steam and won four straight games, leaving the former in another 4-2 hole.
Though Eala eventually managed to lock the game at 5-all to bring the match to an extended encounter, Sun went for the finishing kick before she could pull off the win from behind.
