Friday night in Abu Dhabi felt less like a loss and more like the final bow of a breakout act. Alex Eala and Janice Tjen, the Southeast Asian pairing that had spent the week gatecrashing expectations, saw their inspired run halted in the semifinals of the Abu Dhabi Open.
The curtain came down swiftly—76 minutes, two tidy sets—but not without leaving an impression.
Standing in their way to the finals match were Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova and Great Britain’s Olivia Nicholls, a European duo that played the kind of ruthless, calculator-clean doubles tennis that turns slim margins into wide gaps. The scoreline read 6-4, 6-2, but the story lived in the details: precision over power, patience over flash.
Mihalikova and Nicholls didn’t light up the stat sheet with aces—there were none—but they refused to blink when it mattered.
Five break points faced, five saved.
Meanwhile, Eala and Tjen had five chances of their own and came up empty each time, the match tilting quietly but decisively in the Europeans’ favor.
That efficiency proved decisive. Mihalikova and Nicholls struck on three of five break opportunities, seized momentum midway through the first set, and never let it go. Their serving was steady rather than spectacular, landing 74 percent of first serves and winning 73 percent of those points. On second serves, they were even sharper, taking 78 percent and keeping Eala and Tjen on the defensive.
The numbers told a blunt story: 57 total points for the Europeans to 48 for the Filipino-Indonesian duo, a 21-18 edge in receiving points, and a five-game surge that broke the contest open. By the end, Mihalikova and Nicholls held a 12-6 advantage in total games, closing the door with professional calm.
Yet for Eala and Tjen, this was no footnote. Another deep run, another statement made. Their chemistry, courage, and growing belief suggest this semifinal exit is less an ending—and more a trailer for what’s next.
