Alex Eala Won the First Set Again. Wuhan Still Hasn’t Given Her a Win.
Alex Eala won the first set, then lost to No. 217 Han Shi 6-4, 3-6, 3-6 in Wuhan. That’s the third straight event where she won the opening set and lost.
All posts tagged: tennis
Alex Eala Got Called Overrated. Then Beijing’s Top Two Lost.
Alex Eala lost to a world No. 85 in the Asian Games semifinal and got called overrated. Days later, the world No. 1 and No. 2 lost in Beijing.
Alex Eala Waited Five Hours for Her Asian Games Debut. The Match Took 55 Minutes.
Rain was the hardest part of Alex Eala‘s Asian Games debut on Monday. Her match was set for center court at Nagoya’s Higashiyama Park Tennis Center, in front of fans. Instead, the weather held it up for about five hours and moved it twice: first to the show court, then indoors to Court C, a court normally used for practice. Once play started, it was over quickly. Eala beat Thailand’s Patcharin Cheapchandej 6-1, 6-0 in 55 minutes and closed the match with an ace. A Practice Court for the Player Who Gave Up Beijing The Asian Games, Asia’s largest multi-sport event, comes around every four years, and playing this one cost Eala something. It overlaps with the China Open in Beijing, a WTA 1000 event, the tier just below the four majors that top-ranked players are required to enter. Skipping it could get her fined or docked ranking points by the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association), a trade-off ElysPlanet covered when she made the call. The Philippine Tennis Association (PHILTA) put it simply: “She chose to …
Alex Eala Won the First Set. Tatiana Prozorova Won the Biggest Match of Her Career.
Alex Eala won the first set, then lost to No. 180 Tatiana Prozorova 6-4, 5-7, 3-6 in Singapore. Next: an Asian Games gold chase that’s still unresolved.
Alex Eala Landed on the Front Page of the New York Times. Then She Sat Front Row at NYFW for Tory Burch.
A New York Times front page, a CBS Mornings sit-down, and three NYFW front rows — Alex Eala’s New York had nothing to do with tennis.
Alex Eala’s Homecoming Has a ₱63,000 Ticket. Here’s the Math Behind It.
Alex Eala’s Philippine Arena homecoming has tickets from ₱618 to ₱63,705 — a 103x spread. Here’s the economics behind tiered event pricing, and how it compares to the Federer-Nadal exhibition it’s chasing.
Alex Eala’s Best US Open Run Ends Against Friend Iva Jovic — a Third Time.
Iva Jovic beat Alex Eala for the third time this year at the US Open on Saturday night, 7-5, 3-6, 7-5, closing out a third-round match at Arthur Ashe Stadium that was, for the first time in their rivalry, actually a fight. Eala had never taken a set off Jovic in two prior meetings this season. This time she took one, forced a decider, and led it 4-2 and 4-3 before Jovic leveled at 4-4 and served out the last two games to win it. Eala crossed the court to embrace her friend anyway — a hug that, for a moment, looked less like a rivalry ending than two people who happened to be on opposite sides of it. It was the first of their four meetings to reach a third set, and the first played on a hard court — the surface where Eala has had some of her best results this year. None of that changed the outcome. It did change what the loss means: Eala’s tournament ends in the third round, her …
Alex Eala Beats Her Strasbourg Ghost. The US Open Draw Gets Harder From Here.
Alex Eala avenged her Strasbourg loss to Oleksandra Oliynykova at the US Open, 6-1, 6-4, opening with nine straight points. Afterward, she talked patience, pride, and playing her next two rounds against her closest friends on tour.
Alex Eala Beats Mary Stoiana to Open Her US Open Campaign in 78 Minutes. No Drama Required.
Alex Eala opened her US Open campaign with a straightforward 6-1, 6-2 win over American qualifier Mary Stoiana — setting up a tougher round two.
Alex Eala Finally Got Tested in Cincinnati. She Just Ran Out of Sets.
Alex Eala finally faced a real opponent in Cincinnati — and took a set off a two-time Grand Slam finalist before falling in three. Next stop: the US Open.