Filipina tennis star Alex Eala put up a gritty fight but came up short in her bid to score another big-name upset, bowing to former Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, in the first round of the Omnium Banque Nationale in Montreal.
In a battle of lefties that lasted two hours and six minutes, the 20-year-old Eala started strong and took the opening set with aggressive forehands and steady baseline play, as the Czech struggled with her serve and rhythm.
But Vondrousova, making her return from injury, found her groove in the last two sets—cutting down her double faults, firing seven aces, and improving her break point conversion from 1-of-8 in the first set to 4-of-8 across the second and third—to complete the comeback.
The match summary or stats can be viewed through this link.
Eala’s first-round exit ends her debut run in the WTA 1000 main draw in Canada, a major milestone in her breakout 2025 season. The tournament features a stacked field that includes world No. 1 Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, and Jasmine Paolini.
The Montreal campaign marks Eala’s return to North American hard courts after a stellar semifinal finish at the Miami Open earlier this year, where she stunned three Grand Slam champions. She also notched a runner-up finish at Eastbourne and a landmark Wimbledon debut that helped push her to a career-high No. 56 in the world rankings before settling at No. 69 this July.
With the US Open looming on August 24, Eala eyes the tournament as a key tune-up ahead of another major stage.
“My plan originally for the end of the year was to break the Top 100. So I’ve done that quite early in the year, so I’m super happy,” said Eala in a recent Power & Play interview hosted by her uncle, former PBA commissioner Noli Eala.
“There’s still quite a couple of months to go before the end of the year, so I think my goals are just to maintain and keep the level that I’ve been showcasing the past few months.”
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