The woes continue for Alex Eala as another quick exit in a WTA tournament marks the early goings of her 2025 season.
Alex Eala was once again shown the door early, this time in the WTA L&T Mumbai Open after she dropped out of contention in the Round of 16 of the singles and doubles tournament on Wednesday night.
Eala, who has been on a slump since reaching the semifinals in the Canberra International earlier this year, first fell short in the singles tournament, where she ran out of steam in the second set against Japanese foe Mai Hontama.
The 19-year-old could not outplay Hontama in a tightly-contested first set, which headed into a tiebreak before she struggled mightily in the second, 6(5)-7, 2-6.
After dropping the first set, the Rafa Nadal Academy scholar could not make it interesting with the lopsided second set against the 25-year-old, who was also ranked lower than Eala in the WTA rankings. Hontama is ranked no. 166.
The Filipina, meanwhile, is at no. 137 in the WTA world rankings.
Over in women’s doubles, Eala and Tsao Chia-Yi gave 2-seed pair Elena Pridankina and Amina Anshba a scare before eventually being swept in their opening match of the tournament, 4-6, 4-6.
Eala and Chia-Yi fought back to within a game, 4-5, in the second set in the hopes of forcing a tiebreak.
But the Asian duo, who won just two of their 10 break points, could not force their foes’ hands and fell victim to the sweep.
Eala has thus suffered early exits in her last three tournaments.