ALEX Eala crashed out of the 2026 Wuhan Open, suffering a massive upset loss to world no. 231 Shi Han, 6-4, 3-6, 3-6, Monday eventing at Dongfeng Voyah Center Court.
The world no. 19 looked far from comfortable in the final WTA1000 event of the season, committing error after error as her Chinese opponent got the better of her in their duel which lasted for two hours and 27 minutes.
Up 3-2 in the second set, Eala struggled with Shi's forehand as the Filipina dropped 10 of the next 13 games to unravel in front of the not so friendly crowd in Wuhan.
But that should've been evident from the onset as Eala kept the Chinese bet in the thick of things with her miscues, giving up 17 unforced errors in the first set alone. She ended up with 37 for the match.
The Asian Games bronze medalist did get her act together in the 10th game of set one, recovering from three points down and strung five straight to take the set.
That, however, turned out to be the only bright spot for her performance.
Shi, a first-timer in the main draw of a WTA1000 event and got in through a qualifier, will advance in the second round where awaiting is world no. 25 Leylah Fernandez of Canada.
Eala now turns her attention to doubles action where she'll team up with Turkey's Zeynep Sonmez against the Ukrainian duo of Anhelina Kalinina and Dayana Yastremska.
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