THE Philippines’ Alex Eala ran out of magic in the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, bowing to the United States’ world No. 4 Coco Gauff, 0-6, 2-6 on Thursday night.
Gauff, determined to bounce back from a shock early exit in Doha last week, overcame a passionate partisan crowd by playing her usual game and send a message to Eala in the 68-minute contest that there is still long way to go to attain that level.
Still, it was a phenomenal run for Eala, who made it to the quarterfinal by taking down world No. 8 Jasmine Paolini and No. 32 Sorana Cirstea, after gaining ground due to the retirement of No. 45 Hailey Baptiste in the Round of 64.
After her Middle East swing, Eala’s eyes now trains foe the United States as she is among the players in 96 singles draw in the Indian Wells which starts March 4. Eala is also seen in the player acceptance list for the Miami Open, where she seeking to reprise her semifinal run last year, starting March 17.
Denied of having a chance of beating a top-10 player for the fourth time in her career, Eala will benefit from her WTA 1000 Dubai defeat.
“Obviously, I think the gap between us was pretty prominent,” said Eala, who is expected to rise to a new career-best No. 32 in the world when the WTA releases its latest rankings on Monday.
“That’s not to say that I’m so far out of reach from these players. I think this match was… I mean, the score says a lot, but I think I’m not so disappointed. I keep my head up. I feel good about the whole week, and how I’ve been doing. So, the biggest takeaway for me, honestly, is that I’m on the right path.”
Eala looked tentative right from the get go, quickly losing her first service match and, despite the third seed firing off the first of three first-set double-faults, the 20-year-old was unable to capitalize, making the wrong decision, finding the net, hitting long.
In the third game, Eala saved a breakpoint but then volleyed wide at deuce to hand advantage to Gauff, who gratefully won the next point to go 3-0.
Gauff eventually won 10 consecutive games before Eala did finally get on the scorecard to trim down the deficit to 1-4.
Finally getting some rhythm, Eala won another game, but any hope of a miracle from the Quezon City native was short-lived as Gauff broke back and consolidated to put the match out of reach.
“I could have served a little better, but I made it in when it mattered,” Gauff said. “Alex is a tough competitor. Even when I was up, I knew she could come back at any given moment, I’ve seen her do it before.”
Gauff will meet Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina, the two-time Dubai champion who dumped her out of the Australian Open unceremoniously in straight sets last month, in the Friday semifinal.
Svitolina rallied from a set-down to beat surprise package Croatia’s Antonia Ruzic, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, to reach the Final Four.
The other semifinal pits Jessica Pegula and Amanda Anisimova in an all-American duel.
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