"Alex Eala should end her season at this point" - Fans react as Filipina suffers early heartbreak at Ningbo Open

Alex Eala's season has continued to slump since her return to the professional tour after the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya. In her first official meeting against World No. 13 Diana Shnaider, the 21-year-old Filipina fell flat in a tight Round of 16 encounter at the Ningbo Open on Thursday.

Both players dominated the service games and remained deadlocked at 4-4 in the opener. It was Shnaider who drew first blood and broke Eala's serve in the ninth game. The World No. 20 refused to crumble and countered by breaking the Russian in the next game.

However, a third consecutive break decided the fate of the first set. The sixth seed then responded by breaking Eala and consolidated her position to clinch the first set. A flurry of breaks remained the theme in the second set, with Alex Eala carving out a slender 4-3 lead.

But it was Shnaider who had the last laugh, bagging the next three games to seal her place in the quarterfinals with a 7-5, 6-4 win. Fans pulled no punches while calling out Eala for her "embarrassing" serve.

"Eala should just end her season at this point. Girlie is clearly tired already and that serve IS EMBARRASSING AND HORRENDOUS 💀 still can’t believe a player with that serve is in the top 20," a user wrote on Reddit.

"Eala exposed again and again," a user commented on X.

"So I guess Eala's bubble has been broken," a user stated.

"Alex is just hype," a user remarked.

"Nike, it’s time to drop Alex as a sponsored athlete!" a user stated.

What's next for Alex Eala?

After another underwhelming campaign, Alex Eala will now shift her focus to the Toray Pan Pacific Open, set to take place in Tokyo. The young sensation will face stern competition from World No. 1 Elena Rybakina and reigning Wuhan Open champion Maja Chwalinska.

Belinda Bencic will return to the Japanese capital to defend her title in the prestigious tournament, scheduled to run from October 26 to November 1. Alex Eala will aim to reclaim her lost spark after a string of poor results. She crashed out in the third round at the US Open and suffered an upset in Singapore against Tatiana Prozorova despite being one of the top seeds.

The trend continued in Wuhan when local talent Shi Han clawed back after being a set down to draw the curtains on Eala's campaign. Alex Eala returned to winning ways in Ningbo against Diane Parry but lost it in the next round to Shnaider.