Alex Eala, Ingrid Martins bow out of Australian Open doubles

Alex Eala’s Australian Open has come to an end after she and Ingrid Martins bowed against Magda Linette and Shuko Aoyama, 6-7 (7), 6-2, 3-6, in the opening round of Australian Open women’s doubles on Tuesday.

The Filipino and Brazilian tandem mounted a Set 2 fightback after dropping the opening set, but ultimately lost steam to end their doubles run.

The 20-year-old Eala and the 29-year-old Martins surged early in the opening frame with a blazing 4-0 start. But the Japanese-Polish pair won five of the next six games to force a 5-5 deadlock.

Linette and Aoyama went on completing the comeback win to steal the opener.

But Eala and Martins regained their rhythm in the second set to level the affair.

Back-to-back errors from Eala and Martins allowed Linette and Aoyama to close out Game 4 in the third set as the latter pair built a commanding 4-0 cushion.

Eala and Martins won the next three games, including an extended sixth game that saw them forcing five deuces.

Linette and Aoyama, however, unleashed a strong backhand play to finish off Game 9 and take the victory.

With the loss, Eala has officially wrapped up her first-ever Australian Open main draw appearance. She bowed to Alycia Parks of USA in the singles opener.

—JMB, GMA Integrated News