In tennis, sometimes the difference between victory and defeat is just one point. For Alex Eala, it was a double fault at precisely the wrong moment.
The Filipino ace bowed out of the Toray Pan Pacific Open quarterfinals in Tokyo on Friday night, losing to familiar rival Diana Shnaider of Russia, 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 4-6, in a gripping three-set encounter that had everything except a happy ending for the Filipina.
The match began with Shnaider looking ready to dictate terms. But Eala weathered the early pressure, found her rhythm, and wrested control of the opening set. The Russian, however, returned the favor in the second, forcing Eala to dig deep.
And dig deep she did. Eala clawed her way back into contention, coming within two tiebreak points of sealing the set, the match, and an appearance in the semifinals.
Then came the double fault. One of seven she committed during the contest, it proved particularly expensive. Shnaider seized the opening and carried the momentum into the deciding set.
The numbers suggested a remarkably even contest. Both players won 68 percent of their first-serve points and 53 percenton second serves, finishing with identical totals of 116 points won. Eala produced more backhand winners, while Shnaider answered with her forehand firepower. The Russian, though, committed eight fewer unforced errors and just one double fault.
Eala also needed a medical timeout in the final set, with a physiotherapist attending to her ankle.
The result extended Shnaider’s winning run against Eala at the professional level, following her 7-5, 6-4 victory in the BNB Ningbo Open in China last week. Their junior history, however, tells another story. Eala won their 2019 Osaka encounter convincingly, 6-1, 6-3.
For now, Shnaider has the upper hand. But this rivalry is hardly finished.
