World No. 3 Alex Eala suffered a 6-4, 6-1 defeat to Czech Republic's Linda Fruhvirtova in the quarterfinals of the J1 Roehampton in London Saturday – two days before her much-awaited Wimbledon debut.
Fatigue was partly to be blamed for Eala’s loss as she earlier played her third round match with German Germany's Mara Guth.
As expected, Eala, seeded No. 2 in the tournament, beat Guth for the third straight time, 6-4, 6-2.
Against Fruhvirtova, ranked No. 14 in the world, Eala was only in the game in the first set as she fell into a maze of errors in the second round in the face of her rival’s wicked shots and daring net attacks.
Seeking her third Grand Slam title – having won the juniors doubles titles in last year’s Australian Open last year (with Indonesian Priska Nugroho) and the French Open last month (with Russian Oksana Selekhmeteva) – Eala is going to take part in both the singles and doubles events in Wimbledon. (REY C. LACHICA)