Alexandra Eala denied showdown with close friend Iva Jovic at Ningbo Open, crashes out to Diana Shnaider
WTA
Alexandra Eala will not play her close friend Iva Jovic in the quarter-finals of the Ningbo Open after the Filipina ace lost out in straight sets on Thursday to Diana Shnaider, who will now take on the 18-year-old American.
Jovic earlier today breezed past Jasmine Paolini to underline her credentials. It seems that the rising prodigy will be heading to Indian Wells at the very least to be an alternate. With Iga Swiatek winding down her season and Marta Kostyuk doing similar, it doesn't seem out of the realms that Jovic could be the replacement if one of the top stars is injured.
This shows how incredible her first full season has been, and in winning Guadalajara again, she could add another big one before the end of the week. In defeating Paolini, she rallied from a breakdown in the opening set to win through in straights, with Paolini breaking early to take a 3-1 lead before Jovic then found her rhythm.
The American teenager broke twice to win the opening set 6-4. Jovic moved two breaks ahead at 4-1 in the second set, but Paolini fought back to cut it back to 4-3. Jovic held serve before breaking again to close out a 6-4, 6-3 victory in an hour and 22 minutes.
Eala won't face Jovic.
Jovic will not now face Alexandra Eala, with the Filipina losing out 7-5, 6-4 to Diana Shnaider. It was a match full of breaks after 4-4 in the first, with the duo going back and forth, but in the end Shnaider managed to edge it, finally holding for 7-5 to win through.
The second set was a similar story as until 4-3 to Eala; it was a break between the pair. But when it looked like Eala was going to get back into the tie, Shnaider managed to turn it around and break for 5-4 before claiming the win, albeit on her seventh match point, when she handed break chances to Eala to make it 5-5. So a close shave, but a straight sets win for Shnaider.
Likely Rybakina opponent set
Also, through to likely face Elena Rybakina in the quarter-finals was a surprise in Katarzyna Kawa, who saw off Belinda Bencic 7-5, 6-2. Kawa is World No. 128, but no doubt will be buoyed this week by a certain Maja Chwalinska winning a title in Wuhan.
The 33-year-old who has a high of World No. 112 has often featured in doubles over singles in recent years, but she came through qualifying and ironically was due to face off against Chwalinska before she decided to exit the tournament. She defeated Volynets and Snigur both in qualifying and in the main draw in a weird quirk, as Snigur was inserted as a lucky loser and now Bencic.
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