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Alex Eala, Venus Williams reunion ends in early Canadian Open exit

ByJustpaste.in

MANILA, Philippines – Alex Eala’s keenly awaited reunion with tennis icon Venus Williams ended quickly. 

The Filipino and American duo dropped their opening match in the Canadian Open in Toronto as they absorbed a 6-4, 6-3 loss to Japan’s Miyu Kato and Russia’s Liudmila Samsonova in the round of 32 of women’s doubles action on Thursday, August 6 (Friday, August 7, Manila time).

Eala and Williams suffered their second straight defeat as partners after their first team-up in the Bad Homburg Open in Germany in June culminated in a quarterfinal exit. 


Alex Eala, Venus Williams reunion ends in early Canadian Open exit

After pulling level at 4-4 in the opening set, Eala and Williams lost the next six games as their chances of winning slowly slipped away, with Kato and Samsonova wrapping up the match in 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Eala and Williams fought back from a 0-4 hole in the second set, clinching three of the next four games to close the gap to 3-5. However, their comeback ultimately fell short after they were broken in the ensuing game. 

The loss marked Williams’ exit from Toronto as she also lost her first match in singles play, falling to Uzbekistan’s Kamilla Rakhimova in straight sets in the round of 128.

In contrast, Eala — who received a first-round bye as the 25th seed — advanced to the third round after a 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 victory over the USA’s Alycia Parks in the round of 64. 

After Bad Homburg, Eala, 21, and Williams, 46, were supposed to link up again in the Washington Open, but the Filipina dropped out at the last minute and the American found another partner in Russia’s Diana Shnaider.

That turned out for the better as Eala went on to capture her first-ever WTA Tour singles title in Washington, where she beat the top three seeds, including American world No. 30 Jessica Pegula in the final.

Now that her doubles stint in Toronto has concluded, Eala can focus on her singles bid as she battles a third consecutive American in Caty McNally in the round of 32 on Friday (Saturday, August 8, Manila time). – Rappler.com

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