At A Glance
- Eala, who went through two qualifying matches to earn a main draw berth, couldn't find an antidote to outgun her rival despite her resilient attempts in the second set.
Alex Eala yielded to hometown bet Himeno Sakatsume, 6-0, 6-3, in the opening round of the Kinoshita Group Japan Open Tennis Championships 2023 in Osaka on Tuesday, Sept. 12.

Eala, who went through two qualifying matches to earn a main draw berth, couldn’t find an antidote to outgun her rival despite her resilient attempts in the second set.
A victory for the Filipina could have set her up a second-round meeting with the winner between Chinese third seed Wang Xinyu and Jil Teichmann of Switzerland in this WTA250 event.
This was Eala’s fourth appearance in a WTA event this year. Her last tournament was last April at the prestigious WTA1000 Mutua Madrid Open where she gained a wildcard entry.