ALEX Eala was humbled Tuesday night (Tuesday afternoon in England) by crafty Polish sixth seed Magda Linette, who outplayed the Filipina tennis star 6-4, 6-3 in the women’s singles opening round of the Lexus Nottingham Open at the Lexus Nottingham Tennis Center in England.
Once ranked a career-high No. 19 in the world and a 2023 Australian Open semifinalist, Linette, 33, drew from her vast experience to beat Eala in the critical moments and advance to the next round after one hour and 39 minutes of action on one of her favorite surfaces.
Among the notable stats of the Polish player, currently ranked No. 31, were her six aces against one of her foe’s and a winning percentage of 70.6 percent, clinching 24 out of 34 points on her first serve, compared to the 52.2 clip (24-46) of Eala.
Linette also had a better norm of 47.8 (22-46) on first return points won while the Pinay netter could only 29.4 percent (10-34).
