Alex Eala falls to French foe, exits W60 Grenoble in Round of 16

Alex Eala made another early exit in her return to the hard court, falling to hometown bet Chloe Paquet, 6-4, 5-7, 3-6, in the Round of 16 of the W60 Grenoble on Thursday (early Friday in Manila) in France.

The Filipina teen tennis sensation started strong, taking the opening set against a veteran WTA no. 124 Paquet, who is 11 years older than the Philippine representative.

Eala, 16, built on that momentum to open the second set with a quick 3-0 game lead but Paquet tied it all up at 5-all before winning the two succeeding games, 7-5.

The Rafa Nadal Academy scholar failed to overcome a 5-2 deficit in the third set though she was able to grab a third game following a service error from Paquet. Paquet, though, broke Eala's service to take home the win.

The match lasted for two hours and 34 minutes.

Prior to meeting Paquet, Eala had to hurdle two matches in the qualifying draw where she ousted Stefania Rubini of Italy and Thanh Lan Truong of France. She also outplayed Swiss foe Joanne Zuger, 6-4, 6-1, to open her campaign in the main draw last Tuesday.

—JMB, GMA News