Her record seven-game streak also came to an end.
On Saturday, September 13 (Manila time), the Philippines’ Alex Eala once again set foot on the tennis court for the quarterfinals of the Sao Paulo Open 2025 in Brazil.
This time, faced off with fellow Southeast Asian, Janice Tjen—who like her, also created firsts and became the first Indonesian player to enter a WTA quarterfinals in over two decades.
The 20-year-old Filipina dominated the earlier part of the game with a 3-0 lead. But Eala slowly lost the momentum as Tjen gained ground, ending the first set 6-4, in favor of the Indonesian contender.
Tjen then continued to steer the competition in her favor and finished the game on the second set, 6-1.
As a result of this, Eala not only bowed out of the Sao Paulo Open 2025, but also concluded her seven-game streak that began with the Guadalajara 125 Open in Mexico last week.
Despite this, it has been quite an experience for her, as prior to the kick-off of the Brazilian tourney, the Filipina player’s sweep at the Guadalajara Open resulted to her climb from being World No. 75 to No. 61, which is the highest-ever for any Filipina player.
Alex Eala’s next competition is expected to be at the Jingshan Open in China, which will happen from September 22 to 28.