Eala’s Indian Wells dream run ended

MANILA, Philippines, March 12 ------ Alex Eala went down to a crushing defeat at the hands of world No. 14 Linda Noskova, 6-2, 6-0, in their Round of 16 duel in the Indian Wells Open in Indian Wells Garden in California yesterday.

Eala, WTA No. 32, was in the thick of the fight at 2-3 in the first set against the Czech powerhouse but couldn’t win another game in the match ending inside one hour. The 20-year-old Filipina was up 2-0 in head-to-head duels with Noskova back in their junior days marked by Eala’s huge win in the 2020 French Open girls’ singles quarterfinals. But in their first encounter as pros, the 21-year-old Czech proved more prepared or simply better.

Noskova, with multiple Grand Slam and Olympic stints under her belt, was relentless from midway through the first set, unleashing a 3-0 closeout that snowballed to a mighty sweep of Eala in the second. Noskova put up a clinic marked by seven aces – bombs that shattered the hearts of the predominant Filipino crowd in the cavernous Stadium I inside the Indian Wells tennis center.

The Czech ace also converted five breakpoints while Eala, the 31st seed, was a shell of her amazing form in her 6-2, 2-0 (ret.) win over Coco Gauff in the previous round. Eala even committed three double faults against none for Noskova.

A quarterfinalist in the Australian Open last year, Noskova will face Talia Gibson of Australia (No. 112), who stunned world No. 7 Jasmine Paolini of Italy, 7-5, 2-6, 6-1.

Waiting for the winner of that clash is either world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus or No. 10 Victoria Mboko of Canada. Sabalenka trounced No. 16 Naomi Osaka of Japan, 6-2, 6-4, while Mboko drubbed No. 6 Amanda Anisimova of USA, 6-4, 6-1.

Still, it was a commendable campaign for Eala in a stacked 96-player field headlined by the tennis titans with her  Round-of-16 finish possibly pushing her inside the Top 30 in next week’s ranking update.

Source: philstar.com