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MANILA – Croatian 3rd seed Jana Fett defeated Filipino tennis sensation Alex Eala in the second round to eliminate her from the W25 Manacor ITF tournament in Spain on Thursday.
Despite the efforts of World No. 763 Eala, Fett managed a 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory in 2 hours and 57 minutes. Croatian world No. 210 will face Italy’s Jessica Pieri, world No. 296, in the quarterfinals on Friday.
The Round 2 match between 15-year-old Eala and 24-year-old Fett at the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar started with Eala taking a 2-0 lead. Fett caught up with 2-2 before Eala took the lead again at 4-2.
Fett quickly rallied to level at 4-4, forcing Eala to fight for the ball with her placements. Eala continued to win the next two games, breaking the Croatian’s serve to take the first set, 6-4.
The tables were turned in the second set when Fett advanced 2-0. Eala managed to tie at 2-2, but Fett regained control with a 5-3 lead before taking the second set, 6-3.
The third set saw Fett with a 2-0 lead, which he extended to a 4-2 lead. Eala’s powerful forehand forced an error from Fett, causing the Filipino to break, 3-4, but the Croatian responded with a break in order to get the game out.
Fett shot an ace to earn match point, but double faulted that doubled them. Eala took advantage of a crucial break point to close the gap, 4-5, and struggled to equalize at 5-5. Fett went on to claim the next two games, 7-5, to advance to the final eighth round.
The W25 Manacor is Eala’s fifth professional tournament of the year. In the first round on Wednesday, she achieved a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Switzerland’s No. 284 in the world Simona Waltert.
2021 has been a banner year for the Filipino teenage ace, as she claimed her first professional title in the first leg of W15 Manacor in January. He finished quarter-finals in the next two matches at W15 Manacor and at the W25 Grenoble tournament in France.
With all eyes on her as she continues to climb the WTA rankings, Eala is keenly aware of the arduous process of succeeding on the world tennis scene.
“I’m not really pushing myself to do something fast or to rank up like super, super fast,” Eala said in an interview on Tennis Talks of Unified Tennis Philippines.
“I’m just trying to go step by step and I’m really focusing on improving my game now more than results,” continued Academy scholar Rafa Nadal as she spoke with the Filipino player and fellow Australian Open junior doubles champion. , Francis Casey. Alcantara.
Eala finished 2020 as the junior world No. 3, allowing her to be a junior exempt player in several professional ITF World Tennis Tour tournaments, such as W25. In January 2020, she and Priska Madelyn Nugroho of Indonesia won the Australian Open junior women’s doubles championship, while in October she finished semi-final in the Roland Garros women’s singles tournament.
