Eala stopped in tracks by Swiss foe

MANILA, Philippines — Alex Eala’s hot streak came to an end, snapped by seventh seed Swiss Ylena In-Albon in their quarterfinals match in the second leg of W15 Manacor ITF in Mallorca, Spain yesterday.

Eala failed to recover from a sloppy start and suffered a 0-6, 3-6 defeat that stopped her seven-game romp from her title run in the W15 Manacor first leg.

In-Albon proved to be a tough foe, being a seasoned campaigner with titles both on the hard court and on clay.

The 21-year-old Swiss disposed of the 15-year-old Filipina just in one hour and 25 minutes, going perfect in the first nine games.

Shut out in the first set and staring at a 0-3 deficit in the next, Eala suddenly came to life, pulling even at 3-3 only to stagger again and eventually bomb out of the fight for the $15,000 top prize.

It’s her first loss after her breakthrough championship where she trounced Italian Anna Paradisi, Aussie Seone Mendez, French Carole Monnet, Hong Kong’s Adithya Karunaratne then Spanish Yvonne Cavalle-Reimers, followed by victories over Swede Mirjam Bjorklund and another Spanish Alba Carrillo Marin in the first two rounds of this tourney.