Eala suffers early exit in Australian Open, bows to Croatian opponent

Sports

AN OPPORTUNITY to play in the main draw of the prestigious Australian Open remains elusive for Filipino tennis sensation Alex Eala.

Eala suffered an early exit in the 2025 Australian Open after she faltered against a highly touted Croatian opponent in the qualifying round of the Grand Slam event on Tuesday, January 7, in Melbourne.

The 19-year-old Eala, ranked No. 138 in the world, bowed to Jana Fett of Croatia, 5-7, 2-6, in a match that lasted one hour and 59 minutes.

Eala actually took off to a strong 2-0 start but Fett asserted her might, taking the next five games to build a huge 5-2 lead.

Eala refused to simply roll over and die, answering with her own furious run by winning the next three matches to tie the count at 5-all. The world No. 134 Fett, who had multiple Grand Slam appearances since 2017, thwarted Eala’s comeback by winning the next two for the set win.

Fett sustained the momentum, racing to a 4-0 lead in the second set, and Eala couldn’t pull off a dramatic comeback to absorb the sorry loss.

Eala also saw action in the 2023 Australian Open qualifiers but also failed to advance to the main draw.

Eala needed to win three qualifying matches to make it to the main draw. She came into the match looking for a win that could have arranged her a second-round qualifying duel with Austrian Sinja Kraus.

Kraus defeated Viktoria Hruncakova of Slovakia, 6-1, 6-2,in their own qualifying meeting.

Eala is now 0-2 this year after she also faltered in the Workday Canberra International WTA event also in Australia last week.

Eala, however, put up a gallant stand in Canberra, making it to the semifinal round but just couldn’t pull through.(CCM)