MANILA – Alexandra Eala and Brazilian partner Ingrid Martins saw their Australian Open women’s doubles campaign come to an early end, bowing to Magda Linette of Poland and Shuko Aoyama of Japan in the first round on Tuesday in Melbourne.
The Eala-Martins tandem narrowly lost the opening set in a tiebreak, 7-6, but bounced back convincingly in the second set with a 6-2 win to force a decider. Linette and Aoyama, however, regained control in the final set and closed out the match with a 6-3 victory.
The match was tightly contested, with both pairs finishing level at 15 games each. Linette and Aoyama held a slim edge in total points, 116-108, and also outscored Eala and Martins in receiving points, 55-53.
Efficiency on serve played a decisive role, as the Polish-Japanese pair won 61 service points compared to 55 by their opponents. Linette and Aoyama were also more effective on second serve, capturing 62 percent of points, while Eala and Martins managed 45 percent.
Both teams converted six break points, but Linette and Aoyama needed fewer chances to do so, converting six of 13 opportunities. Eala and Martins required 19 break-point chances to match that total. The winning pair also claimed the lone tiebreak of the contest.
Eala and Martins finished with a higher first-serve percentage at 80 percent, compared to 65 percent for Linette and Aoyama, and committed fewer double faults, two against six.
“I’m still young, 20, so I’m learning how to deal with all of this attention,” Eala said. “But at the same time, I’m grateful.”
“I guess this is one of the moments that I can reflect on what this means for Philippine tennis,” she added. “There are positives to take away.”
The doubles loss followed Eala’s earlier exit from the women’s singles draw, where she also suffered a first-round defeat to American Alycia Parks on Monday./PN
