FAREWELL AUSSIE OPEN, HELLO WTA PHILIPPINES

MANILA, Philippines — Another hot start for the Filipina bet, then another cold meltdown.

On the heels of her singles exit, Alex Eala, with Brazilian partner Ingrid Martins, crashed out of the Australian Open doubles as well after a 6-7 (3-7), 6-2, 3-6 defeat to a seasoned Japanese-Polish tandem yesterday at Melbourne Park in Victoria.

The Filipina-Brazilian duo waxed hot early at 4-0 but lost steam, and not even their retaliation in the second set mattered to the strong closeout of Japan’s Shuko Aoyama (WTA doubles No. 52) and Poland’s Magda Linette (WTA singles No. 50 and doubles No. 140).

Aoyama, an AO doubles finalist with compatriot Ena Shibahara in 2023, and Linette, a French Open semifinalist in 2021, unleashed a telling 4-0 start in the rubber en route to the win.

Gone just three days into AO, Eala now has the opportunity to banner the first ever Philippine Women’s Open set Jan. 26-31 at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.

Eala won’t be alone in carrying the flag with Stefi Aludo and Tenny Madis also representing the Philippines.

The home bets will be in the mix of talented players, including world No. 42 Tatjana Maria of Germany and No. 46 Wang Xinyu of China with other top entrants in No. 59 Janice Tjen of Indonesia, No. 63 Solana Sierra of Argentina, No. 72 Donna Vekic of Croatia, No. 76 Kimberly Birrell of Australia, and No. 84 Camila Osorio of Colombia.

Meanwhile, Jannik Sinner dropped just three games and spent little over an hour on Rod Laver Arena to get his bid for an Australian Open three-peat started.

The No. 2-ranked Sinner was leading 6-2, 6-1 when Hugo Gaston suddenly retired from their match with an undisclosed injury.

Two seeded women’s players were ousted in straight sets early on Day 3, with Janice Tjen upsetting No. 22 Leylah Fernandez, the 2021 US Open runner-up, and Tereza Valentova beating Australia’s Maya Joint.

2026-01-20T16:31:36Z