Alex Eala fell to a 6-4, 6-7(6), 5-7 loss to third seed Swiss netter Nina Stadler yesterday in the $15,000 $15,000 International Tennis Federation (ITF) women’s tournament in Monastir, Tunisia.
This put Stadler in the quarterfinals and will next face Bosnia’s Nefisa Berberovic.
The sixth seeded Berberovic made it after she put away Joanna Zawadzka, 6-1, 6-1 of Poland.
Top seed Nastja Kolar also advanced after her 6-1, 6-0 win over Lucie Petruzelova of the Czech Republic.
The 14-year-old Eala, now ranked no. 4 in the world junior rankings, is on her first professional outing.
She became a Rafa Nadal Academy scholar after clinching a wildcard to the 2018 Roland Garros juniors tournament qualifiers.
Scouts from the RNA invited her to join the academy, which is run by Rafa, who is an 11-time Grand Slam winner.
She is there with her brother Miko and Ealam and they have since been studying at the American International School of Mallorca.
Eala is setting her sights on playing in the 2020 French Open
Eala moved up in the ITF girls’ rankings, from ninth to eighth place to no. 4 in the world by Sunday last weekend of February after the 2020 Australian Open.
She emerged as the world no. 4 player in the ITF junior rankings after playing 22 events from 2019 until the Australian Open juniors.
According to the latest ITF junior rankings, Diane Parry of France stayed the no. 1 spot after 17 events in 2019.
Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva of Andorra, who is the Australian Open 2020 girls singles winner, emerged as the no. 2 ranked player after seeing action in 34 events. She moved up 17 notches from no. 19.