By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Alex Eala produced flashes of brilliance, coming through with shots that thrilled the crowd – majority of them Filipinos.
Sadly, Eala, possibly the greatest Filipina netter in modern time, was no match to American Alycia Parks who fired much stronger shots on the way to completing a 0-6, 6-3, 6-2 win in a performance that spoiled the Filipina’s main-round debut at the Australian Open in Melbourne on Sunday, Jan. 19.
Playing as if she had the home-court advantage, Eala fed off the crowd’s energy by dominating the opening set before her more experienced yet lower-ranked American opponent found her rhythm and subsequently took control of the match.
It was an abrupt ending for the 20-year-old Eala, at least in singles, as she had hoped to eclipse her best Grand Slam performance to date — a second-round finish at the US Open last year.
The world No. 49 Eala fought off eight break points to hold in the opening game, then used that escape as momentum to clinch the first set.
But Parks appeared unperturbed as the world No. 99 gained confidence each shot to dominate the second set. She was even deadlier in the third set.
With momentum on her side, Parks broke Eala’s opening serve and did it again in the pivotal seventh game that served as a turning point of the match.
Eala fought gallantly in the eighth game and even earned two break points, but a backhand into the net ended her singles campaign.
Overall, Parks drained 12 aces against 10 double faults, and had 40 winners.
Her win set up a second round meeting with 19th seed Karolina Muchova, who downed Jaqueline Cristian, 6-3, 7-6 (6).
Eala, for her part, still has a double match scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 20, as she and Brazilian Ingrid Martins clash with Magda Linette and Shuko Aoyama at 11:30 a.m. (Philippine time).
