Filipina tennis ace Alex Eala gave her well-wishes to fellow tennister Katie Boulter, who retired in their Hong Kong Open first round matchup Tuesday evening.
Eala punched her ticket to the next round of the WTA250 tournament after Boutler was forced to retire from the match due to injury, 6-4, 2-1.
After the match, the 20-year-old Filipina said she hopes the Olympian can ‘take this time to recover.’
‘I’m a little out of words, you know I think this time of the year is a tough moment for a lot of players physically and mentally it being the end of the season,’ she said in the post-game interview.
‘I hope that Katie can take this time to recover and just look back at her season proudly, yeah,’ she added
Eala took the first set after breaking a 4-all deadlock with two straight games.
The Filipina had the upper hand in the second set, before an emotional Boulter asked for the medical timeout.
Shortly after, she retired from the match.
Now, Eala, who has bowed out in the first round of her previous three tournaments, will be taking on 2025 Canadian Open champion Victoria Mboko in the second round. Mboko is ranked 21st in the world.