Eala bows to world No. 2 Rybakina in Italian Open

ALEXANDRA “ALEX” EALA’S run ended at the hands of world No. 2 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, 6-4, 6-3, to crash out in the third round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia (Italian Open) over the weekend at the Foro Italico Sports Complex in Rome.

Ms. Eala stood her ground in the early goings of both sets but Ms. Rybakina’s experience and firepower as a two-time Grand Slam champion and reigning WTA Tour titlist proved just too much to handle en route to a defeat in 92 minutes.

The 20-year-old Filipina managed to stay within striking distance at 2-3 in the first set when Ms. Rybakina, the 2023 Italian Open champion, broke her twice in a 3-1 closeout marked by a 40-15 domination in the 10^th game.

After losing serve to begin the second, the WTA No. 42 Ms. Eala then got back on the 26-year-old Kazakh and held serve to seize a 2-1 lead only to get clamped by bleeding to just one game anew the rest of the way.

Ms. Rybakina, the runaway leader in WTA Tour with 29 wins this season, had six aces and zero double faults. She’s the only player this season to reach the Round of 16 in all six WTA 1000-level tours so far.

She will face WTA No. 130 Karolina Pliskova of Czechia, who pulled off a 6-1, 6-4 stunner of WTA No. 46 Laura Siegemund of Germany, for a seat in the quarterfinals.

For Ms. Eala, who could not replicate a win against a second-ranked player since slaying then world No. 2 Iga Swiatek (now No. 3) in the Miami Open last year, it was still a commendable campaign with her first third-round finish in any clay tournament ever.

The lefty ace previously hurdled No. 45 Magdalena Frech of Poland, 6-0, 3-6, 6-4, and No. 33 Xinyu Wang of China, 6-4, 6-3, for an expected improvement in the world rankings this week.

And she’s not done yet, vying in two more clay campaigns leading up to the queen of clay that is the French Open on May 24 to June 7 in Paris.

She’s listed in the qualifying draw of the WTA 500 Internationaux de Strasbourg Open on May 17 to 23 in France and in the main draw of WTA 125 Parma Ladies Open in Rome’s neighboring city on May 12 to 17. — John Bryan Ulanday