THIS time, Alex Eala bowed to someone richer in experience.
That sums up Amanda Anisimova’s victory over Eala in Tuesday third round of the Cincinnati Open in Mason, Ohio, USA.
‘Experience prevailed over youth,’ said Admiral Louie Fernandez (ret.). ‘That simple.’
I can’t dispute that.
While it’s true that Eala gutted out a 6-4 win in the first set with an exceptional display of vicious tenacity and steely nerves, the Filipino ace just couldn’t sustain her firepower against someone bent on reaching the finish line first.
Unlike many of Eala’s previous victims who either folded up that easily or withered going into the final bend of the race, Anisimova proved to be of a different texture. She seemed like a dike built to buck the strongest surge of water from a burst dam.
Thus, while Eala was trying to ride on the momentum of her first-set win sparked by her brilliant three-game run to erase a 3-4 deficit en route to a 1-0 lead going into the second set, Anisimova fought back like a dragon disturbed from deep slumber.
Down 2-3 in the second set, Anisimova sprang back to life by stringing up three games of her own to seize control, 5-3.
The American was simply a fantastic turnaround, utterly transforming from mediocre to magical by unbelievably bucking five double faults in that winning streak.
In game six alone of the middle set, Anisimova survived three horrific double faults to level the count at 3-3.
Next, she broke a suddenly disoriented Eala at the first opportunity before holding serve for a 5-3 lead-again brushing aside two double faults.
And after Eala held serve, Anisimova routinely held her own for a 6-4 win to forge a deciding third set, where, horror of horrors, Eala would hurtle back from heaven to earth.
Eala had an auspicious start in the decider, racing to a 2-0 lead as she broke Anisimova in the second game.
After that, it was all Anisimova show.
After a break back, Anisimova, finally flashing her famous lethal backhand, tied it at 2-all, before making it 3-2 as she pounced on Eala’s two double faults.
After that, defeat was merely a matter of time for Eala, who showed clear signs of fatigue against a visibly resurgent and rejuvenated Anisimova, who iced a crucial 4-2 edge with a blistering ace-her third for the day.
She would next break again Eala-by now appearing visibly spent with shoulders sagging and feet seemingly weighed down by lead-before wrapping up the match with flourish, clinching a 6-2 win at love.
While Eala was younger at 21 against the 24-year-old Anisimova (she turns 25 on August 31), the element of stamina, surprisingly, also turned in the American’s favor.
But Anisimova, winner of four titles including two Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) 1000s and a losing finalist in 2025 Wimbledon to Iga Swiatek and in the 2025 US Open to Aryna Sabalenka, praised Eala ‘for her great talent.’
That talent will surely be unfurled again when Eala plays in the 2026 US Open from August 30 to September 13 in Flushing Meadows, New York.
With the lessons Eala learned during her super hectic schedule this season from January to the present, winning, along the way, the Mubadala DC Open in Washington with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 victory over world No. 3 Jessica Pegula only last August 3, expectations are again high for the Filipino sensation to perform well in the season’s fourth and last Grand Slam in the Big Apple.
I can almost see it happening.
THAT’S IT With over 20 tournaments she had played this year in Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the US, Alex Eala should be more than ready for the US Open. She has two weeks to rest/prepare for the grandest tennis event of the year.