Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 10) – Filipino tennis ace Alex Eala ended her girls singles campaign in the 2021 US Open after losing to Swiss foe Sebastianna Scilipoti, 5-7, 3-6.
The two young tennis stars exchanged leads in the first set, with Scilipoti flashing her dominant form with game winners and Eala doing a great job in forcing deuces from net points.
In the last two games of the first set, Scilipoti capitalized on a weary Eala, only allowing the Filipina to score two points. That gave the Swiss a set advantage.
Eala regained her strength in the second set to level herself against Scilipoti, 3-3.
It proved to be the end of Eala’s run and her singles campaign in the US Open as Scilipoti continued to score from her service points, while the Filipina tennis wunderkind committed unforced errors down the stretch.
A forehand unforced error by Eala gave the semifinals seat to Scilipoti, who will next face sixth seed Kristina Dmitruk of Belarus.
The 16-year-old Filipina, who received a bye in the tournament, earlier defeated American opponent Charlotte Owensby (6-3, 6-3) and Greek foe Michaela Laki (4-6, 7-5, 6-4) before her tussle with Scilipoti.
Eala is not completely out of the 2021 US Open as she and Belgian partner Hanne Vandewinkel look to secure a semifinal berth in their quarterfinals match against the American pair of Elizabeth Coleman and Madison Sieg on early Saturday morning (Philippine time).
