Eala seeks to check slide as Joue Les Tours begins

MANILA, Philippines — After back-to-back setbacks in matches she had controlled of early on, Alex Eala knows there is no other way but up and she hopes to finally soar with a strong finish in the W25 Joue Les Tours at the Tennis Club Jocondien firing off Sunday in France.

Against Latvian Anna Ozerova in one of the 16 matches lined up in the first round of qualifying for the $25,000 event, the young Filipina, with a WTA ranking of 583 will be facing a rival ranked No. 980, thus giving her some kind of an edge when it comes to skills, performance and most probably talent and court savvy.

But more than anything else, Eala wants to snap her slide and fuel her pursuit of ITF honors and ranking points stymied by heart-breaking losses the last few weeks. 

She bowed out in the Last 16 phase of the W60 Grenoble and exited in the first round of the W25 Macon last week.

In those tournaments, she took command of her rivals in the early going, only to lose steam and yield a pair of three setters that continued to hamper her drive for a second pro title after scoring a breakthrough in the ITF W15 Manacor in Spain last year.

A victory will line up Eala, ranked No. 6 in the two-round elims, against the winner of the Fabrienne Gettwart of Germany-Aubane Droguet of France duel in the lower half of the 32-player chart.

Eight slots are being disputed for the main draw, headed by top seed Swiss Simona Waltert, No. 2 Jodie Burrage of Great Britian and Russian No. 3 Oksana Selekhmeteva.

The Rafa Nadal Academy scholar had been churning out strong starts against rivals of varying styles but just couldn’t find the right shots to close out, taking charge early before losing to France’s Chloe Paquet, 6-4, 5-7, 3-6, for a shot at the quarterfinals in Grenoble.

She also led Anna Ukolova behind a brilliant opening set showing in W25 Macon, but succumbed in the tiebreaker, 1-6, 6-2, 7-6(3). 

Eala also dropped her last doubles outing with partner Alice Robbe of France.

But the lefty is ready and eager to turn things around this week.