Shocker In Singapore
MANILA, Philippines — Alex Eala absorbed a stunning upset at the hands of world No. 180 Tatiana Prozorova of Russia, 6-4, 5-7, 3-6, to bow out of the Singapore Open last night at the jampacked centercourt of the OCBC Arena.
Eala, WTA No. 18, took the opening set but faltered in the next two en route to a shocking early exit in her first event back from a long break on the heels of her third round-finish at the US Open earlier this month.
The marathon duel lasted for more than three hours with Eala the first to blink, causing her to miss out on a quarterfinal ticket in a flat start to her Asian Swing campaign.
The 21-year-old Filipina pride also had extra days off due to a first-round bye as the No. 3 seed and rust took a toll on her against the lower-ranked but in-form Russian rival, who had huge momentum from a rousing first-round win.
Prozorova, 22, earlier carved out a 5-7, 7-6 (2), 6-2 comeback win against WTA No. 152 Sofia Costoulas of Belgium in the Round of 32 to earn a shot at the Pinay tennis darling with a massive crowd behind her.
That resilience was in full display as Prozorova thrived while having her back against the wall and drew extra fuel from the opposing Asian crowd by pushing Eala to the ropes in each of the last two sets.
After losing a 3-1 lead in the first set, Prozorova returned the favor on Eala by staging a 5-1 closeout to overturn a 2-4 deficit and force a decider.
It was all Prozorova from there as she kept Eala at bay en route to scoring the biggest victory of her career just yet.
Prozorova, who also made it to the semifinals of the historic WTA125 Philippine Women’s Open in Manila, has never beaten a Top-20 player until Eala.
“Honestly, I don’t have any words right now to describe my emotions and feelings. But wow, I just did it,” said the teary-eyed Prozorova.
“I just believed that I can do it. I know Alex will fight but I know I will fight until the end, too. And it worked.”
Up next for Prozorova is No. 40 Wang Xinyu of China, who prevailed over Chinese Taipei’s No. 168 Joanna Garland, 7-5, 6-4, for a seat in the Final Four.
Eala’s homecoming of sorts in Singapore was spoiled. It was in the Lion City where she previously received the Li Na Inspiration Award in 2016 and 2017 during her juniors days for the WTA Future Stars event.
She also fell short in making up for her early fall in the same tournament last year. When she was still outside the Top 100, Eala absorbed a 6-3, 6-2 loss to Simona Waltert of Switzerland in the qualifying round and failed to make the main draw.
Eala will now shift her focus to the Asian Games set for Sept. 27 to Oct.2 in Nagoya, Japan, where she’s out to surpass her two-bronze harvest (women’s singles and mixed doubles) in the 2023 Hangzhou Games.
She will play in the women’s singles and women’s doubles this time around in Japan, billed as the player to beat for gold as the highest-ranked WTA player and especially with the absence of reigning gold medalist Zheng Qinwen of China.
By opting to play for flag in the Asiad, Eala faces a possible $10,000 fine from the WTA for skipping the China Open in Beijing, one of the mandatory 1000-level tourney in the WTA Tour calendar on Sept. 30 to Oct. But she will play in the Wuhan Open on Oct. 12 to 18.