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Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider Eala, William reunion cut short as pair suffers first-round loss in Toronto

Eala, William reunion cut short as pair suffers first-round loss in Toronto

Published Aug 7, 2026 11:07 am
United States' Venus Williams, left, confers with partner, Philippines' Alexandra Eala in a doubles match against Japan's Miyu Kato and Liudmila Samsonova during a National Bank Open tennis match in Toronto on Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press via AP)
United States' Venus Williams, left, confers with partner, Philippines' Alexandra Eala in a doubles match against Japan's Miyu Kato and Liudmila Samsonova during a National Bank Open tennis match in Toronto on Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press via AP)
The much-awaited reunion between Alex Eala and tennis icon Venus Williams was cut short after suffering a 4-6, 3-6 loss to Miyu Kato and Liudmila Samsonova in the opening round of the WTA 1000 National Bank Open doubles event in Toronto, Canada Friday, Aug. 7 (Philippine time).
Still feeling the effects of her previous singles match in Toronto, the 21-year-old Eala dug deep to help the former world No. 1 erase a 2-4 deficit and level the opening set at 4-4, drawing cheers from the packed crowd at Sobeys Stadium. However, the Japanese-Russian pair regained control as they stormed back by winning the next two games to snatch the opening frame.
Eala and Williams, unfortunately, fell to a 4-0 hole in the second set, and, despite mounting a fiery comeback, still found no answers to defuse Kato and Samsonova who made sure to secure their Round of 16 ticket.
Kato and Samsonova now battle either No. 3 seed Sara Errani and Nicole Melichar-Martinez or the tandem of Americans Jessica Pegula and McCartney Kessler in the Last 16.
Eala and Williams, meanwhile, bowed out of the doubles event in their reunion as partners.
It can be remembered that Eala and Williams withdrew from the WTA 500 D.C. Open doubles tournament, with the former eventually capturing the singles crown.
Their first partnership took place in the Bad Homburg Open in Germany, where Eala and Williams had a winning debut against Alexandra Osborne and Catherine Harrison, 6-3, 6-4, in the opener, before yielding a 3-6, 2-6 second-round result to Tereza Mihalikova of Slovakia and Olivia Nicholls of Great Britain.
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