After a shock upset loss of Alex Eala to an obscure Russian campaigner, the celebrated election lawyer Romeo Macalintal texted me the following: “There is no gold in Singapore kaya stop over lang doon si Alex Eala. Her final destination is Nagoya, where gold awaits her.”
This was last week, when Tatiana Provorosa bundled out Eala in the Filipino ace’s first match, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, in a lung-tearing stunner lasting more than three hours.
It would be a lie if the 21-year-old Eala wasn’t devastated by the loss. She was heavily favored to win in the Singapore Open to begin with, besides being ranked 18th in the world. Provorosa was unseeded because she had a so-so 180th standing in the world.
“I will learn lessons from this loss,” said Eala. “That’s for sure.”
Prozorova’s win over Eala was considered to be the Russian’s biggest in her career, coming at a time when the Filipino ace was priming up for the Asian Games.
I was waiting for hours to watch on Cignal TV 6 Eala’s first-round match yesterday (Monday, Sept. 28, 2026) against Thailand’s Cheapchandej Patcharin.
It was set to start at 11:30 a.m. PHL time but continuous rain delayed the match. I started writing this at 3:45 p.m. yesterday or thereabouts as Eala’s match was set for 4:15 p.m. indoors.
I couldn’t wait for it to finish as I will completely miss my deadline here.
Like in her Prozorova encounter, Eala was also heavily favored to defeat her Thai opponent.
But we will never know.
Prozorova was never even given a Chinaman’s chance against Eala but look what she did: Outplaying our very own Alex using sharply-angled winners especially at crunch time.
Unfortunately for Prozorova, though, she failed to advance to the second round when she suffered an accident in the doubles contest after her victory over Eala.
A Japanese player inadvertently hit Prozorova in the cheek and she was knocked down, forcing officials to stop the match.
Although organizers allowed Prozorova to continue play in the singles, WTA officials refused — citing further danger might happen to the 23-year-old Russian.
In any sport, one can never tell what’s going to happen.
Like Eala in the Singapore Open where she was seeded No. 1 — fate had been unkind.
Let’s pray she recovers from this debacle and completes her role of winning the Asian Games gold — her ticket to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
