Alex Eala wraps up PHL Women’s Open stint with quarterfinal finish

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

Alex Eala’s WTA 125 Philippine Women’s Open tournament campaign came to an end after suffering a quarterfinal loss to Colombia’s Camila Osorio, 4-6, 4-6, on Jan. 29, 2026, at the Center Court of the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.

Despite an added energy boost from the hundreds of Filipino fans who gave their all-out support to Eala, the courageous Osorio flipped the script and spoiled the Filipina ace’s goal of inching a step closer to the promised land.

Fresh off a morale-boosting Round of 16 win against Japan’s Himeno Sakatsume, Eala couldn’t sustain her momentum against Osorio and was undone by a string of unforced baseline errors and costly service double faults.

The 20-year-old WTA phenom actually had a good start, bucking a 1-2 deficit before winning the next two games to restore order and take a 3-2 lead.

However, a series of uncharacteristic unforced errors slowed Eala down and rewarded Osorio with plenty of free points in the most crucial stretch of the opener.

Eala had three chances to retake the driver’s seat, but a surprising miss on a wide forehand down the line and back-to-back failed first-ball returns summed up her erratic outing.

In the first two rounds, Eala played tennis near perfection without dropping a single set, but the quarterfinal clash marked a different ending to her tournament chapter as she never recovered from her error-plagued performance.

Eala showed some signs of life in the second set after breaking Osorio to take a 3-2 cushion, but the same scenario played out in the final five games of the set as she committed another string of unforced errors.

In the sixth game of the set, Eala had the chance to take a 4-3 lead over Osorio, but three consecutive baseline errors prevented that from happening.

Eala’s final crucial error came in the eighth game of the set after a double fault on a 30-40 situation, giving Osorio the momentum-winging 5-4 lead.

Every Filipino fan in the stands could only hold their breath after Eala missed the off-the-bounce volley pick-up that officially placed Osorio among the tournament’s semifinalists.

“Sayang, hindi pumasa ngayon sa level,” Eala said right after the loss.

“Importante nandito ako sa Manila. Nandito ako sa Pilipinas, kaya maraming maraming salamat. Enjoy the rest of the week. I hope you guys all get inspired and learn to love tennis.”