By MARK REY MONTEJO
Filipina tennis ace Alex Eala closed out her campaign on home soil after succumbing to Colombia’s Camila Osorio, 4-6, 4-6, in the quarterfinal round of the WTA 125 Philippine Women’s Open at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center in Manila Thursday evening, Jan. 29.
Fueled by her back-to-back wins and the cheers from the hometown crowd, Eala, 20, displayed great fight but just couldn’t get over the hump as Osorio showed composure to fend off the comeback attempts of the Pinay ace.
Osorio has arranged a semis duel against third seed Solana Sierra of Argentina, who carved out a 6-3, 6-4 win over Thailand’s Lanlana Taraudee.
“Sayang, hindi pumasa ngayon sa level, pero ang importante, nandito ako sa Manila, nandito ako sa Pilipinas, nandito ang WTA,” said the No. 2 seeded Eala, who is set to vie in the WTA 500 Abu Dhabi Open in the UAE this February.
“I really hope you guys get inspired and learn to love tennis, and I hope it grows because I love tennis so much, and I’m so lucky that I’m able to share this experience and this journey with all of you,” she added.
Despite seizing a 3-2 lead in both sets with hundreds of fans roaring behind her, Eala couldn’t sustain the momentum as fellow US Open junior girls’ champion Camila Osorio dug deep and flipped the script.
The Colombian sealed her gritty performance by breaking Eala five times in the second set, punctuating the one-hour-and-29-minute duel with a crosscourt passing shot that served as the dagger.
Meanwhile, Tatiana Prozorova extended her stellar campaign after beating fellow unseeded Belgium’s Sofia Costoulas, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, to barge into the semis.
Fresh off a stunning 7-6(2), 6-4 win over No. 1 seed German Tatjana Maria, Prozorova, a 22-year-old Russian native, dug deep to recover from her lethargic act in the opening set before showcasing her brilliance in the next two sets.
Prozorova challenges No. 4 Croatian Donna Vekic, who, apart from Eala, is the competition’s fan-favorite, after the latter bested Chinese Zhu Lin, 6-4, 6-3.
“It’s difficult because I changed my game from yesterday. Today, she’s very aggressive, fast and skillful, but I worked through it and managed to win (again) today,” said Prozorova. “It would be great. I’m ready for [Vekic].”
