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Alex Eala yields to World No. 34 Irina Begu in Miami Open first round

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Rosy Mina

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Alex Eala at the WTA Thailand Open in Hua Hin. Photo courtesy of 2023 Thailand Open." src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/life/03/22/20230321-alex-eala-via-2023-thailand-open.jpg"/><figcaption>Alex Eala at the WTA Thailand Open in Hua Hin. <em>Photo courtesy of 2023 Thailand Open.</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>In her third Miami Open appearance, wildcard Alexandra “Alex” Eala of the Philippines suffered a 2-6, 5-7 defeat to World No. 34 Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania in the first round of the WTA 1000 event, Tuesday in Florida.</p><p>Eala, the 17-year-old US Open Juniors reigning singles champion and WTA World No. 219, almost forced a decider after earning five set points on serve.</p><p>But this did not deter the 32-year-old Begu as she rallied to win in straight sets to arrange a second-round clash with Zheng Qinwen of China.</p><p>The Eala-Begu match was scheduled first on the Butch Buchholz Court at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/02/23/23/alex-ealas-2023-goals-wta-tour-and-senior-high-graduation">Alex Eala&#x27;s 2023 goals: WTA Tour and senior high graduation</a></li></ul><p>Shortly after the Filipino teen took a 2-0 lead, the Romanian equalized with an ace then broke serve courtesy of an Eala double fault, which totaled six throughout the match.</p><p>Begu went on to take the first set, 6-2, after her backhand down-the-line shot proved to be too strong for Eala.</p><p>The second set began with a 2-0 edge for Eala, and she advanced to 5-1 after Begu committed more errors.</p><p>As Eala served for the set in the seventh game, she gained one set point and faced two break points before handing over the service break to Begu, 2-5, via a double fault.</p><p>Eala served for the set once more at 5-3 in the ninth game, where she earned four set points and faced five break points.</p><p>After eight deuces, Begu broke serve to inch closer at 4-5 after Eala let out a long backhand.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/03/11/23/tennis-alex-eala-exits-w60-slovakia-as-doubles-semifinalist">Tennis: Alex Eala exits W60 Slovakia as doubles semifinalist</a></li></ul><p>The Romanian veteran, who reached a career-high ranking of World No. 22 in 2016, leveled at 5-5 and broke serve in the following game on her second opportunity to serve for the match at 6-5.</p><p>A winning backhand gave Begu three match points, and a forehand service return error from Eala awarded the victory to the Romanian, 7-5.</p><p>Eala’s first-round main draw finish matched her Miami result in 2022 when she lost as a wildcard to then World No. 59 Madison Brengle of the United States 2-6, 1-6.</p><p>The Rafa Nadal Academy scholar made her debut in Miami as a qualifying wildcard in 2021, and she fell in the first round of qualifiers versus Slovak Viktoria Kuzmova, 6-4, 4-6, 2-6.</p><p>On the ITF Women’s World Tennis Tour, Eala is a singles champion at the 2021 W15 Manacor in Spain and 2022 W25 Chiang Rai in Thailand</p><p>Her most recent singles result this year is a second-round finish at the W60 Trnava in Slovakia.</p><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1647607" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

Alex Eala suffered a 2-6, 5-7 defeat to World No. 34 Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania in the first round of the WTA 1000 event, Tuesday in Florida.