MANILA — Alexandra Eala will now turn her attention to the US Open women’s singles draw after her mixed doubles campaign with Canadian world No. 4 Felix Auger-Aliassime ended in a 4-1, 4-1 round-of-16 loss to Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina and France’s Gael Monfils on Tuesday in New York.
The defeat cut short the wildcard pairing’s run but cleared the way for Eala to focus on the singles competition, where the 21-year-old Filipina enters as one of the seeded players following her rise to a career-best No. 18 in the WTA rankings.
Eala and Auger-Aliassime struggled to establish their rhythm against Svitolina and Monfils, who dictated the exchanges and consistently applied pressure on their opponents’ serve.
The Filipina-Canadian tandem fired three aces but failed to convert either of their two break-point opportunities. They also committed two double faults and finished with eight winners and 23 total points won.
Svitolina and Monfils, meanwhile, recorded two aces and seven winners while collecting 34 total points. They also won all 22 receiving points reflected in the match statistics to secure their place in the next round.
The loss ended Eala’s first US Open mixed doubles campaign after she and Auger-Aliassime were handed a wildcard into the event.
Eala, a native of Victorias City, Negros Occidental, will also see action against Iva Jovic on Aug. 28 as part of the Stars of the Open event before continuing her singles campaign.
The Filipina enters the US Open carrying strong momentum from an impressive North American hard-court swing highlighted by her maiden WTA 500 championship in Washington.
She followed that breakthrough with a Round of 16 appearance in Toronto and a third-round finish in Cincinnati, results that helped propel her to a career-high No. 18 in the world rankings.
With her mixed doubles stint over, Eala will now seek to translate that strong hard-court form into a deep run in the US Open women’s singles competition./PN
