Alex Eala beaten by friend Iva Jovic again to exit Queen’s Club

MANILA, Philippines – Whether on clay or on grass, Alex Eala continues to find Iva Jovic a tough nut to crack.

Eala saw her grass winning streak end at the hands of her good friend as she crashed out of the WTA 500 Queen’s Club Championships in London, United Kingdom, following a 6-2, 6-2 loss in the round of 16 on Wednesday, June 10.

The defeat marked Eala’s second against Jovic in less than a month as she also absorbed a 6-4, 6-2 beating from the American world No. 19 in the French Open in May to end the clay swing.

Jovic, who has enjoyed a significant rise having been ranked outside the top 100 at the same time a year ago, set the tone in her swift victory by breaking Eala in the very first game then racing to a 4-1 lead.

Eala broke back to inch within 2-4, but Jovic sealed the opening set by winning the next two games.

Although Eala managed to hold serve to start the second set, that proved to be the only time she got a taste of the lead, with Jovic nailing five consecutive games en route to the win that took 1 hour and 16 minutes to finish. 

The loss snapped Eala’s six-game winning streak on grass as she was coming off her second WTA 125 title she won in the Birmingham Open. 

After earning five straight wins in Birmingham capped by a come-from-behind 5-7, 6-3, 7-5 triumph over Czech Republic’s Nikola Bartunkova, Eala stretched her hot streak at Queen’s Club with a 6-3, 6-2 demolition of China’s Zhang Shuai in the opening round.

Eala gets to catch her breath for only a couple of days before she takes part as a qualifier in the Berlin Tennis Open, another WTA 500 event, set to run from June 15 to 21 in Germany.

The consecutive tournaments lead up to the Wimbledon Championships, the third Grand Slam of the year, later this June. – Rappler.com