Maja Chwalinska put an end to Alex Eala’s campaign at the Trophee de la Ville, a $25,000 ITF tournament in Grenoble, France.
The seventh seed Chwalinska pulled off a 6-0, 6-4 triumph over the 15-year-old Eala in their quarterfinal encounter.
The world No. 220 Chwalinska shut out world No. 903 Eala in the first set, but the Filipina finally found her rhythm after Chwalinska took charge with a 2-0 edge in the second set.
The Globe ambassador broke serve thrice to force three ties, the last at 4-all.
Then, Chwalinska regained the momentum to win the next two games of the final set.
A left-handed netter just like Eala, Chwalinska reached the quarterfinals with Marie Benoit of Belgium and Swiss netter Viktorija Golubic.
Benoit prevailed over China’s Liu Jia Jing, 6-1, 2-6, 6-0, while Golubic downed Teresa Martincova of the Czech Republic, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.
Belgina Marina Zenevska also advanced after stopping Danish Tara Clauson, 7-6(7-4), 6-3.found her groove early on in the following set.
The 19-year-old Polish player took a 2-0 lead in the second set, then the 15-year-old Filipino netter finally notched the third game and converted a break point in the succeeding game.
As the Polish was serving for the match, Eala advanced to 0-30 but eventually yielded to Chwalinska, who will face either 6th seed Clara Tauson of Denmark or qualifier Maryna Zanevska of Belgium in the semifinals.
Prior to her quarterfinal against fellow left-hander Chwalinska, the Filipino tennis sensation defeated two top 200 players: World No. 190 Laura-Ioana Paar of Romania, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, in in the first round and world No. 164 Cristina Bucsa of Spain, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(8), in the second.
Friday's Grenoble quarters was Eala's fourth straight professional quarterfinal appearance of the year, following her run at the 3-leg Spanish tournament, W15 Manacor ITF Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar World Tennis Tour by LG.
The 2020 Australian Open junior girls' doubles champion bagged her first pro title in the first leg and had quarterfinal berths in the second and third legs.
In spite of the loss, Eala is expected to gain some more points and move further up in the standings, thanks to great performances this week which included a three-set thriller over Romanian netter Laura-Ioana Paar and another three-set victory over the tournament’s seventh-seed, Cristina Bucsa.