Alex Eala shifts focus to French Open after early WTA 500 Strasbourg exit

ALL EYES now on the “Queen of Clay.”

Alexandra “Alex” Eala will shift her entire focus to the French Open next week after a stunning early elimination in the WTA 500 Strasbourg Open late on Monday night at the Tennis Club de Strasbourg in France.

Up against a qualifier and a lower-ranked opponent in WTA No. 66 Oleksandra Oliynykova of Ukraine, Ms. Eala lost steam down the stretch for a 6-3, 5-7, 3-6 defeat in Round 1 of the 500-level tour serving as the pre-tournament for the Roland Garros on May 24 to June 7.

A day after re-entering the Top 40 (No. 38) of the world rankings, Ms. Eala’s quick elimination now gives her a full week of individual preparation, possibly at her home base at the Rafael Nadal Academy in Spain, before slugging it out against the big guns.

Ms. Eala, the No. 1 seed in the qualifying round, had high hopes of refining that buildup after being promoted to the main draw of Strasbourg as a replacement to late pullout Hailey Baptiste of the United States, against a qualifier who happened to be Ms. Oliynykova, but to no avail.

The lefty ace was broken seven times by the 25-year-old Ukrainian, including twice in the homestretch of the deciding set as she wasted a 3-2 lead. Ms. Oliynykova will face No. 27 Marie Bouzkova of Czechia, who scored a 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 win over her compatriot Katerina Siniakova (WTA singles No. 36, doubles No. 1), in the second round.

Ms. Eala also exited early in the Upper Austria Ladies Linz Open in Austria (second round), the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany (first round) and the Mutua Madrid Open (second round) with a third-round finish in the Italian Open serving as her only breakthrough run so far.

The Italian Open, where she also played doubles with Ms. Baptiste, was Ms. Eala’s highest finish in any clay tournament in her budding career.

But it gets tougher from here in Paris, especially with Ms. Eala also looking to improve on a first-round exit last year against Emiliana Arango of Colombia, 0-6, 6-2, 3-6.

As a Top 50 player, Ms. Eala is already listed in the main draw of the French Open singles as well as in the doubles, where she’ll team up with world No. 9 and fellow rising star Victoria Mboko of Canada for the first time. — John Bryan Ulanday