Filipino Alex Eala exited the W60 Barcelona tournament as a quarterfinalist following her 4-6, 3-6 loss to Spanish wildcard Georgina Garcia Perez, Friday in Spain.

The 31-year-old home bet with 12 ITF singles titles claimed the early lead, 3-1, after saving a break point and hurdling three deuces.

Garcia Perez, the WTA World No. 369, proceeded to be at 4-2 by firing an ace at 40-15.

Eala, 18, tried to catch up as the 248th-ranked player from the Philippines posted two crucial service holds to trail at 4-5.

Garcia Perez then successfully served for the first set, 6-4, by converting her second of three set points.

Three-time ITF singles winner Eala managed to gain a 3-1 edge in the second set via a service break, which was her only break point conversion in the match.

• Tennis: Alex Eala ousts 2nd seed Eva Lys to enter Barcelona quarterfinals

Garcia Perez leveled at 3-3 by quickly holding serve, then saving a break point in a resolute service hold.

Eala responded by earning two game points on serve, but her Spanish opponent persisted through two deuces and broke once more to regain the lead at 4-3.

In the ninth game, Eala served to remain in their quarterfinal clash at 3-5.

Garcia Perez gained a lone match point at 30-30 and concluded the contest with her fourth service break, 6-3, to reach the semifinals against fellow veteran Arina Rodionova of Australia, the 33-year-old World No. 197.

After one hour and 33 minutes, Eala had zero aces and five double faults while Garcia Perez let out two aces and four double faults.

Despite Eala having a slightly higher first serve in percentage of 58% than the 54% of Garcia Perez, it was the Spaniard who leveled up by winning 90% of her first serve points (27 out of 30) versus the Filipino’s 60% (25 out of 42).

• Alex Eala advances in singles, falters in doubles at W60 Barcelona

On her way to the quarterfinals of the $60,000 ITF event, Eala moved past the opening round, 3-0, ret., due to the retirement of qualifier Diana Marcinkevica of Latvia.

The 2022 US Open Juniors champion went on to eliminate second seed and World No. 150 Eva Lys of Germany, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.

Eala, who won the girls’ doubles crowns at the 2020 Australian Open and 2021 Roland Garros, also competed in the Barcelona doubles draw.

She teamed up with Emilie Lindh Gallagher of Great Britain for a first-round finish versus third seeds and eventual finalists Marcinkevica and Estelle Cascino of France, 6-4, 3-6, 3-10.

RELATED VIDEO

Watch more News on iWantTFC