Alexandra Eala fell to Camila Osorio in the quarter-finals of her home tournament at the Philippine Women’s Open.
The Filipina star was the second seed at the Manila event and the overwhelming crowd favourite to lift the title.
Eala defeated Himeno Sakatsume and Alina Charaeva in Manila, but she had no answers for Osorio at Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.
After her defeat, Eala was asked about the controversy surrounding Coco Gauff’s racket smashing controversy and how she lets off steam after tough defeats.
Alexandra Eala responds when asked about Coco Gauff’s racket smash
Eala and Gauff formed a doubles partnership at the 2025 Italian Open and they have remained friends during her rise up the WTA Tour.
Asked how she lets off steam compared to Gauff, Eala responded: “It’s difficult. I think everyone has their own ways of coping and for me personally it’s not always the same for each loss.
Does anybody else even come close to Alex Eala’s popularity right now?
“The way I cope and I think a part of this journey is learning to be self-aware in terms of knowing what I need to do to kind of step back and regroup because in the end in tennis you lose a lot and some losses are going to be more difficult than others.
“So it’s something I guess you have to manage and yeah, it’s tough, and it’s just different in every situation for me. I can’t really I don’t really have like a specific something that I do all the time. It’s just very different each loss.”
Eala will next be in action at the Abu Dhabi Open, which begins on 1 February. Gauff’s next tournament, meanwhile, looks set to be the Dubai Tennis Championships.
Alexandra Eala calls the Philippine Women’s Open a ‘wake up call’
Eala’s burst in popularity over the past year allowed the Tour to act and give Manila its first WTA Tour event.
The Manila tournament has been a resounding success, with both players and fans delighted with the event.
Eala, however, believes more needs to be done off the back of the tournament to capitalise on the popularity of tennis in the Philippines.
How high do you think Alexandra Eala’s ceiling is?
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At her press conference, she said: “On top of tennis already not being such a popular sport here in the Philippines, I heard the other day that locally there are only eight professional tournaments for men around the country and only two for women.
“So to have a WTA event here, like I said, is a great stepping stone and a wake-up call for the people who are able to help and do something about it. There’s a lot of room for improvement, especially when there are only two professional tournaments for women.”
The event has seen several homegrown stars play their debut WTA Tour event alongside Eala.
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