Eala falls short in upset bid, exits 60K tourney

MANILA, Philippines, February 11 ------ Filipino tennis star Alex Eala could not complete her upset bid of World No. 124 Chloe Paquet in the Round of 16 of the W60 Grenoble in France on Thursday (early Friday, Manila time). Despite taking the opening set and mounting a substantial lead in Set 2, Eala fell short of slaying the tournament fourth seed as she lost in three sets, 6-4, 5-7, 3-6.

The 16-year-old wunderkind looked poised to reach her first ever quarterfinal in a 60K tournament when she held her serve and was a game away from the match win, 5-4. But momentum was on the side of Paquet, who inched back from a 1-4 deficit against the Filipina teen. Paquet ended up taking three game wins in a row to force the third set decider. Buoyed by her second set comeback, the French tennister zoomed to a 5-2 lead in the winner-take-all third salvo.

Though Eala was able to break her opponent’s serve and take a game back, it was not enough as Paquet broke Eala’s serve right after to take the match. Eala thus ended her third tournament of the year with a Round of 16 finish after plowing through qualifiers to reach the main draw.

Source: philstar.com