MANILA — No. 2 seed Alex Eala of the Philippines ended her run at the girls’ singles tournament of The Championships, Wimbledon after suffering an upset from juniors No. 27 Ane Mintegi Del Olmo of Spain, who prevailed in the second round, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5, Thursday in London.

Their match at Court 4 of The All England Lawn Tennis Club lasted for 2 hours and 11 minutes.

Eala and Mintegi Del Olmo stayed focused to hold serve until the 8th game, where the Filipino nabbed a crucial break opportunity when the Spaniard hit a backhand forced error. Eala let out a forehand shot which led to another backhand error from Mintegi Del Olmo, giving Eala a 5-3 lead.

Serving for the set, Eala proceeded to lead the 9th game at 40-15. However, two consecutive double faults threw away her two set points. At deuce, Eala earned her third set point, but a forehand forced error squandered it.

Faced with a break point from Mintegi Del Olmo, Eala fired a forehand winner to save it. At their 5th deuce, two backhand forced errors from the Spaniard allowed Eala to claim the first set, 6-3, in 43 minutes.

Mintegi Del Olmo shrugged off her missed chances in the opening set by imposing a 3-0 advantage, sealed with a backhand volley winner. A forehand unforced error from Eala extended the Spaniard’s lead to 4-0. Eala managed to break then hold serve to trail at 4-2.

In the 7th game, Eala secured three break points with a backhand winner, and won the game with another backhand winner to inch closer at 4-3. A backhand unforced error from Mintegi Del Olmo allowed Eala to level at 4-4. Mintegi Del Olmo advanced to 5-4, then had three set points with Eala on serve. The Spaniard was able to break and force a decider, 6-4, courtesy of Eala’s backhand error at the net.

Mintegi Del Olmo kicked off the third set with a 3-1 lead until Eala caught up at 4-4. In the 9th game, Eala converted a break point due to a forehand forced error from the Spaniard, allowing the Filipino to lead for the first time in the final set and serve for the match at 5-4.

The Spaniard refused to give up the match, breaking back to equalize at 5-5. The next game went to deuce, and a forehand forced error from Eala gave the lead to Mintegi Del Olmo, 6-5. With Eala on serve, the Spaniard soared to a 0-40 edge. Mintegi Del Olmo clinched the match, 7-5, with a backhand down the line return of serve on her first match point.

Eala, who marked her Wimbledon debut on Monday, defeated juniors No. 38 Solana Sierra of Argentina, 6-2, 6-4, in the first round. She is also in the Junior Wimbledon doubles tournament as the No. 3 seed with Priska Madelyn Nugroho of Indonesia.

Eala and Nugroho, the 2020 Australian Open junior girls’ doubles champions, claimed their first round match in clinical fashion with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Erika Matsuda of Japan and Valencia Xu of the United States on Wednesday.

The Southeast Asian pair will clash with Chelsea Fontenel of Switzerland and Ashlyn Krueger of the United States in the second round.

Eala, an ITF Junior Player Grants Programme recipient and Rafa Nadal Academy scholar, has won two titles in the first half of 2021.

In January, the current World No. 629 won her first professional title at the first leg of the W15 Manacor in Spain and in June, she clinched her second junior grand slam title with Oksana Selekhmeteva of Russia at the Roland Garros junior girls’ doubles tournament.

• Tennis: Alex Eala, Indonesian partner impress in Junior Wimbledon doubles opener
• Tennis: Alex Eala wins maiden match in Junior Wimbledon

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