Alex Eala beaten in first match of grass court season following French Open exit
Alex Eala has lost her first match of the 2026 grass-court season, with the Filipina star falling to an opening round doubles defeat at the Birmingham Open.
The 21-year-old entered both the singles and doubles events at the Birmingham Classic, a WTA 125 tournament that got underway today.
World No 37 Eala is making her first appearance since she lost 6-4, 6-2 to world No 17 Iva Jovic in the first round at the French Open last week.
In the doubles draw in Birmingham, Eala partnered with Nikola Bartunkova, a 20-year-old Czech player ranked 69th in singles.
Eala and Bartunkova fell to a narrow 4-6, 6-2, 9-11 defeat to the British pairing of Harriet Dart and Maia Lumsden, who are the No 2 seeds, on Monday morning.
In the opening set, Eala and Bartunkova raced into a 4-0 lead, but Dart and Lumsden won the next six games to take the set.
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The Filipina-Czech pair then broke twice to take the second set in convincing fashion and force a 10-point deciding match tiebreak.
Eala and Bartunkova had a mini-break lead at 6-4 and held a match point on their opponents’ serve at 9-8, but they were unable to seal the win.
This was the first time that Eala and Bartunkova joined forces to play doubles.
What is Alex Eala’s doubles ranking?
Eala is currently ranked 116th in the world in the WTA doubles rankings, having reached a career-high doubles ranking of 88th last month.
Who will Alex Eala play in singles in Birmingham?
Eala is the top seed in the singles event, and she will face 143rd-ranked Priscilla Hon in her first round match on Tuesday.
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