Alex Eala withdraws from French Open Juniors semi-final

Alex Eala’s impressive campaign at the Juniors French Open ended on Friday night after losing to local bettor Elsa Jacquemot, 6-3, 6-2, in the semi-final.

Second-seeded Eala struggled to drop her serve six times against the tough French foe in the match that lasted 64 minutes.

Jacquemot, third-seeded and also in his first French Open semi-final appearance as Eala, also counted on his winners to organize a championship match with Polina Kudermetova of Russia.

Kudermetova, fourth pick, outlived her non-seeded compatriot Alina Charaeva, 7-6 (5), 2-6, 7-5.

Despite the defeat, Eala, a Globe ambassador, is expected to improve her International Tennis Federation (ITF) youth ranking to No. 4 at the end of the tournament.

Reaching the semi-finals was also an achievement, as she also became the first Filipina to do so, matching the feat of Felix Barrientos at the 1985 Wimbledon Juniors.