Alex Eala fizzles out against fellow teen in ITF Slovakia

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Ranged against a familiar Swiss foe, Alex Eala suffers another sorry end to her campaign, absorbing a third second-round exit for the year

MANILA, Philippines – A strong beginning with a whimper of an ending. The result? Yet another disappointing early exit. 

Alex Eala could not sustain her strong start, failing to capitalize on a one-set advantage and falling in three sets to fellow 19-year-old Celine Naef of Switzerland, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, on Thursday, February 27 (Friday, February 28, Manila time) in the round of 16 of the ITF 1st Empire Women’s Indoor 2025 in Trnava, Slovakia. 

The fifth-seeded Eala and the unseeded Naef were familiar with each other’s game, having faced off in the 2023 WTA Canberra Challenger qualifying round where the Swiss teen won in straight sets. 

Eala, 137th in the world, was looking to exact some payback on her lower-ranked foe, and for a while, it appeared that the Filipina youngster would finally get it. 

In a closely fought first set, Eala pulled ahead by breaking Naef in the seventh game and staving off any attempt of a rally to snag the grind-out opener which lasted 53 minutes. 

Stung by a first-ever set loss to Eala, Naef stepped up her game in the second, battering her Filipina rival with powerful serves and breaking Eala in the fourth and eighth games to win with relative ease in just 37 minutes, 6-2. 

By the third set, the world No. 162 Naef had already stamped her imprint and gained control of the match which she would not relinquish. 

The Swiss bombarded a fading Eala with relentless pressure  and raced to an insurmountable 5-1 advantage. Eala stirred a bit after and began to show signs of fighting back by breaking Naef in the seventh and holding serve in the eighth to cut the deficit to just 5-3. 

That proved to be Eala’s last act of resistance. Naef fired two of her nine aces in the ninth game to eliminate the only Filipina active in the women’s pro tour. 

It was another sorry end to Eala’s campaign, her third second-round exit for the year. 

Other than a semifinal finish in the WTA Canberra Challenger at the start of 2025, Eala has not gone beyond the second round in five tournaments this year.

She will remain in Slovakia as she is set to compete against practically the same field in next week’s ITF 2nd Empire Women’s Indoor 2025. – Rappler.com