BARELY 72 hours after her heartrending loss in the Lexus Eastbourne Open women’s singles finals, Alex Eala is back in court tomorrow to face vulnerable defending Czech champion Barbora Krejickova in the first round of the Wimbledon Open at the All-England courts in London, England.
Eala is out to seed redemption for her third set meltdown to feisty Australian Maya Joint, who rallied from 2-5 down in the tiebreak in the third set and staved four championship points in fashioning a riveting 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (12-10) win in the championship match.
The Filipina ace could be facing the reigning Wimbledon queen, ranked No. 17 in the world, just at the right moment after Krejickova withdrew from the Lexus Eastbourne Open due to a right thigh injury, the Women’s Tennis Association website reported.
Whether the Czech has recovered well enough to face Eala in the opening round remains to be seen, and reporter Cameron Greenlees of the website Tennis Gazette believes the Wimbledon main draw rookie has what it takes to pull off an upset.
Greenlees noted the recent lackluster form of Krejickova, 29, who also won the 2021 French Open.
“In her grass season so far, Krejcikova has crashed out of Queen’s in the first round, and after two wins in Eastbourne, withdrew from her third-round clash with Varvara Gracheva due to ongoing injury struggles,” he wrote.
“The Czech star is still set to feature at Wimbledon, but with her recent results taken into consideration, her title defense could be over sooner rather than later.”
“Should Eala emerge victorious over the 2024 champion, she will become just the fifth player in tennis history to knock the defending champion out in the first round of Wimbledon,” he said.
Eala has shown her mettle in stunning those ranked above her present No. 74 world ranking, including Latvian world No. 4 Jelena Ostapenko in the second round in last week’s Lexus Eastbourne Open, being her latest upset victim.
She will need to settle down and overcome the emotional upheaval of last weekend’s championship match loss in Eastbourne to pull the rug from her fancied Czech opponent.
