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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 9) – Philippine tennis star Alex Eala ended his historic Juniors French Open debut by falling to local bettor Elsa Jacquemot, 3-6, 2-6, in the semifinals on Friday night (Philippine time) in Paris, France.
Eala held a 2-1 lead in the first set on her lucky breaks, but Jacquemot did a fantastic job scoring service points for an early lead by closing the match. The French averaged 90% in first-serve point wins and 78% in second-serve points during the first set.
Jacquemot never looked back in the second set as he showed his best scoring form since returning serves and ultimately won the match, ending Eala’s dream career on her French Open debut.
The French will fight Russian Alina Charaeva for the women’s individual title.
Eala, 15 years old, residing in Spain as a student at the Rafa Nadal Academy, currently occupies fourth place in the youth world ranking of the International Tennis Federation.
Eala is the second Filipino to reach the semifinals of a Grand Slam tournament after Felix Barrientos in 1985 at the Wimbledon Juniors tournament. She also made history earlier this year by winning the Australian Open women’s doubles title with fellow Indonesian Priska Nugroho.
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