Alex Eala Drops Opening Match in Nottingham Open

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

Alex Eala squandered her golden chance after losing to Magda Linette – 4-6, 3-6 – during her opening match schedule in the WTA 250 Lexus Nottingham Open on June 17, 2025, in the United Kingdom.

After back-to-back grueling three-set victories in the qualifiers against Anca Todoni and Varvara Gracheva, the Filipina ace failed to pick up where she left off and suffered one of the earliest exits in her two-month pro circuit campaign.

What made the loss tough was how she held a commanding 3-0 lead in the opener boosted by an early break point in Linette’s first service possession.

Oozing with confidence heading to the fourth game set, Eala remained consistent with her tremendous on-the-rise forehand pick-ups before disaster came midway through the game.

From a 3-0 lead, Linette’s clutch counter run and net defense took a toll on Eala, allowing the French stalwart to cap off a 5-0 run to cruise to a 5-3 reverse lead.

Eala showed fight in the next set to inch within a point, 5-4, but the tournament’s sixth seed zoomed to a momentum-stealing sequence to formally pull off the comeback and grab a 1-0 lead.

With the way the first set ended, Linette maintained her momentum in the second and began to pummel Eala with her top-spin heavy backhand strokes.

Eala didn’t back down and answered with several points off long rally exchanges but just like the first set, Linette staged another lopsided run in the final four game sets to send the Filipina crashing in the WTA tournament.

Before arranging the Round of 32 clash with Linette, Eala courageously got out of the qualifiers with an exhausting three-set win over Todoni.

Eala drew first blood to move a set away from advancing to the final qualifiers but the Romanian hopeful equalized the match with a tiebreaker win in the second. Unfortunately for Todoni, the Filipina regained her hitting rhythm, particularly in the down-the-line winners, to bag the win.

After Todoni, Eala was again caught in a three-set battle with Gracheva. It was the exact scenario as the Todoni match after the Filipina bet took the first before conceding the second.