She has yet to crack the code on how to overcome the Belgian tennis player.
On Tuesday, June 23 (Manila time), the Philippines’ Alex Eala moved on to the Bad Homburg Open in Germany for her next tournament after her strong run in the recent Berlin Tennis Open last week, where she stood until the semi-finals round.
In the WTA 500 tournament, Eala was given the assignment of facing a familiar foe on court, Belgium’s Elise Mertens, whom the 21-year-old has yet to win against in a match.
Previously, the two battled it out on the clay court in the Madrid Open in late April, ending in the 6-2, 6-1 win of Mertens and resulted to the Pinay tennis star’s second round exit.
In their rematch, Alex had an early rally, but that was squashed by the Elise to come out on top of the first set.
The Belgian wohld continue her strong run in the second set, which despite the pushback from Eala, saw the latter’s debut journey in the women’s single of Bad Homburg ending after just one match, 6-3, 6-3.
Although, it is not yet over for the Filipina netter, as she has paired up with American player Venus Williams and play against Alexandra Osbourne and Catherine Harrison in the women’s doubles Round of 16, which has been scheduled for Wednesday afternoon (Manila time).