Alex Eala to ‘come back stronger’ for French Open women's doubles
Filipino tennis sensation Alex Eala promises to "come back stronger" after her early exit in the French Open women's singles.
The Pinay athlete is next set to compete in the women's doubles alongside Mexico's Renata Zarazúa. They'll face off against Britain's Emily Appleton and Spain's Yvonne Cavalle-Reimers at 9:00 p.m., Philippine Standard Time. A supposed May 28 match with Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk and Romania’s Elena-Gabriela Ruse was cancelled.
This came after Eala fell short against Colombia’s Emiliana Arango on May 25 with a score of 0-6, 6-2, 3-6, ending her debut stint at the first round of the French Open’s women’s singles.
“First Grand Slam main draw in the books! Back to the drawing board for now, but will come back stronger next time,” she wrote in an Instagram post.
Arango will advance to the second round of the women’s singles against China’s Qinwen Zheng, world No. 8 and Paris Olympics gold medalist.
Among the top contenders at Roland-Garros are defending champion Iga Swiatek, Jessica Pegula, who defeated Eala at the Miami Open, Mirra Andreeva, and Emma Navarro.
Eala made headlines as the first Filipino to compete in a Grand Slam.
She quickly rose to fame after finishing in the semifinals during the Miami Open, historically beating three Grand Slam winners in Jenna Ostapenko, Madison Keys, and Swiatek.
From being 140th in the world, Eala moved up to becoming No. 69 in the Women's Tennis Association rankings.
In a press conference on April 8, Eala shared that she's confident that she'll be able to achieve a Grand Slam one day and that she hopes to compete in the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.
She recently celebrated her 20th birthday in Paris.
