MANILA – Alexandra “Alex” Eala’s breakthrough Wimbledon campaign came to a fighting end after the Filipina sensation pushed 13th seed Jasmine Paolini to three sets before bowing, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, in the Round of 16 on Monday night at Centre Court in London.
Despite the defeat, Eala capped the finest Grand Slam performance of her young career, becoming the first Filipina to reach the fourth round of Wimbledon and further cementing her emergence as one of the sport’s rising stars.
The 20-year-old Victorias City, Negros Occidental native battled toe-to-toe with the experienced Italian in a tightly contested two-hour encounter, rallying to claim the second set after dropping the opener before Paolini regained control in the decider to advance to the quarterfinals.
Paolini took the first set, 6-4, but Eala answered with an impressive response in the second, winning 6-4 to force a deciding set.
The final set remained close before Paolini capitalized on crucial break-point opportunities to seal the victory and book her place in the last eight.
The match statistics underscored how evenly fought the contest was.
Both players blasted two aces, while Eala committed three double faults against Paolini’s one.
Eala also won a higher percentage of first-serve points at 65 percent compared with Paolini’s 61 percent. However, the Italian gained the upper hand on second serves, winning 67 percent of those points against Eala’s 53 percent.
Paolini converted four of her nine break-point opportunities, while Eala managed to capitalize on three of 10 chances.
Eala narrowly led in receiving points won, 38-37, but Paolini finished with a 101-89 edge in total points, won 16 games to Eala’s 13, collected 64 service points against Eala’s 51, and claimed 12 service games compared with the Filipina’s 10.
Although her Wimbledon journey ended in the Round of 16, Eala leaves London with a string of historic achievements, highlighted by her stunning third-round upset of defending champion and world No. 3 Iga Świątek, a projected career-high world ranking, and becoming the first Filipina ever to reach the last 16 of the prestigious grass-court Grand Slam./PN
