Alex Eala suffers Guangzhou opening stunner to No. 305 Claire Liu

MANILA, Philippines, October 22 ------ Alex Eala’s finishing woes came back to haunt her early in the WTA 250 Guangzhou Open as world No. 305 Claire Liu pulled off a monumental 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 opening-round upset. Already up 3-1 in the deciding set after giving up her one-set lead in the second, Eala — currently on a career-high world No. 53 rank — still gave the 25-year-old Liu an open window to capitalize, as she broke her serve that bridged the gap to 3-2 and paved the way for a 3-3 tie. Though the 20-year-old Eala recovered for a 4-3 lead, she failed to bounce back in the eighth and ninth games, giving up back-to-back nip-and-tuck affairs to Liu and lost her lead at the last possible moment, 5-4.

Treading fire from her newfound momentum, Liu blanked Eala, 40-0, in the 10th game to create a considerable cushion that the Filipina ace eventually failed to rally from, despite saving two match points. After a significant three-hour delay to the start of her singles match, Eala will have little time to dust herself off before she gears up for doubles action on Wednesday, October 22, tentatively set at 2:10 pm, Manila time.

Eala pairs up with Ukrainian Nadiia Kichenok to face the Chinese-British pairing of Tang Qianhui and Emily Appleton. Following the Guangzhou Open, the weary Eala continues her near-nonstop East Asia tour at the Hong Kong Open this October 25 to November 2 — her fourth tour in China in the last two months after Jingshan, Wuhan, and Suzhou.

Source: rappler.com