Alexandra Eala of the Philippines calls for a towel against Iga Swiatek of Poland during their match on Day 9 of the Miami Open at Hard Rock Stadium on March 26, 2025 in Miami Gardens, Florida. Al Bello, Getty Images/AFP
(UPDATED) Filipina tennis star Alex Eala bowed out of the French Open in the first round after a three-set loss to fellow debutant Emiliana Arango of Colombia on Sunday.
Eala got off to a sluggish start and then fell behind early in the third set before succumbing to a 0-6, 6-2, 3-6 defeat.
The Filipina had struggled with her errors in the opening frame before discovering her rhythm in the second -- despite a lengthy weather delay that interrupted their match.
Up 3-2 when rain forced a stop to the action, Eala reeled off three straight games upon the resumption of play to send the match to a decider.
Unfortunately for Eala, Arango zoomed to a 2-0 lead in the third and while she cut into the deficit, the Colombian did enough to stay in control.
Eala showed great fight in the seventh game, uncorking a forehand winner to hold her serve and get within one, 3-4. But Arango was poised as well, and an unforced error from the Filipina gave her the eighth game and a 5-3 advantage.
Arango then proceeded to break Eala's serve to win the match after an hour and 46 minutes.
The Colombian dominated the long rallies and benefited from 44 unforced errors by Eala to score the win.
The 20-year-old Eala had made history as the first Filipina to compete in a Grand Slam. Her profile had grown considerably in the past couple of months thanks to a Cinderella run in the Miami Open, where she defeated a handful of former Grand Slam winners to reach the semifinal.
READ: Filipino trailblazer Eala set for Grand Slam debut in Paris
She is also 0-2 now against world No. 88 Arango, who beat her when they played in Miami in 2024.
While it's back to the drawing board for Eala, Arango will move on to play Olympic champion and eighth seeded Zheng Qinwen in the second round.
Zheng beat former French Open runner-up Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4, 6-3 in a tricky first-round assignment on Sunday.
The eighth seed is returning to Paris for the first time since winning gold at last year's Olympics. -- with Agence France-Presse
RELATED VIDEO: