By Samantha Yu
MANILA — Pinay pride Alex Eala experienced a day of contrasting fortunes at the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open on what the tournament promoted as “Double Dose Day.”
In singles action, Eala fell to world No. 2 Ekaterina Aleksandrova in the quarterfinals, dropping a 6-3, 6-3 decision.
Ninety minutes later, however, Eala rebounded in doubles, teaming up with Janice Tjen to defeat the No. 2 seeded pair Shuai Zhang and Cristina Bucsa by the same scoreline, 6-3, 6-3.
Aleksandrova, who had watched Eala’s marathon victory over Aliaksandra Sasnovich the night before, came prepared to counter the Filipina’s aggressive play and the pro-Eala crowd.
The world No. 11 controlled the match with 33 clean winners to Eala’s 15 over 91 minutes.
“She was fighting until the very end. I knew it would be tough, but the atmosphere was amazing today,” Aleksandrova said in her on-court interview. “The crowd was cheering for her, but it made the experience enjoyable for me as well.”
Eala’s fortunes reversed in doubles, where she and Tjen dismantled the experienced duo of Bucsa and Zhang in just 66 minutes.
The Southeast Asian pair will advance to face the fourth-seeded team of Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls in the semifinals tomorrow at 8:00 PM. /ia