ALEX Eala fought valiantly in the second set only to end with a breadstick in a nearly three-hour match against Linda Fruhvirtova, 5-7, 7(7)-6(5), 1-6, in her singles opening match at the 2025 Lexus Birmingham Open early Wednesday morning, Manila time.
This marked the Filipina’s first grass-court contest of the calendar year, where she entered as the third seed.
After splitting the first two sets, Fruhvirtova broke Eala early in the decider and never looked back, winning five straight games from 1-1 to dominate the final set and close out the match, which lasted two hours and 53 minutes.
Earlier in the match, the Czech player—world No. 152—claimed the first set 7-5 after a back-and-forth exchange of games. Eala fought hard, rallying from 0-2 down to lead 3-2, but Fruhvirtova edged her out in the closing stretch to take the set.
Eala, WTA no. 73, responded with grit in the second, jumping to an early 2-0 lead. The set remained tight, eventually reaching a 6-6 deadlock and heading into a tiebreak.
Fruhvirtova initially led 5-2 in the breaker, but Eala mounted a strong comeback to steal the set, clinching the tiebreak at 7-5.
Despite that momentum, Eala couldn’t sustain her level in the third set.
This defeat comes on the heels of Eala’s first-round doubles exit alongside partner Rebeka Masarova the night before.
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