Her return to the clay court ended on a whimper.
On Tuesday (May 26), Filipina tennis star returned to the clay court through her qualifiers match against her friend, Iva Jovic, in the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland-Garros Complex in Paris, France.
Happening three days after the celebration of her 21st birthday, the world number 38 hoped to make it pass the first round, as she left the tourney at the same stage in the previous edition after losing to Emiliana Arango in 2025.
Eala gained ground in the first set after first losing in successive games, but Jovic kept up with her in the last minute and took the win for that portion.
As the game continued, Alex struggled to revive her earlier rally and ultimately lost to Iva, 4-6, 2-6.
With this development, the Pinay player is officially out of the contention in the open’s women’s singles category.
However, she will still remain in Paris, as she has paired up with Victoria Mboko for the women’s doubles. They are set to play against Leylah Fernandez and Diana Shnaider in the coming days.
Prior to this, Alex also had a challenging run in the tennis’ clay season, as she also made early exits from the likes of the Upper Ladies Linz Open in Austria, Stuttgart Open in Germany, and recently, the Strasbourg Open in France.