MANILA – Filipino tennis star Alexandra Eala ended her campaign at the WTA 500 Ningbo Open after falling to sixth seed Diana Shnaider, 5-7, 4-6, Thursday at the Yinzhou Tennis Center hard court in China.
Eala, a singles bronze medalist at the Nagoya Asian Games last month, defeated qualifier Diane Parry of France, 6-3, 6-1, in the first round.
Eala has slid to No. 19 in the world rankings after early exits at Wuhan Open (1st round) and Singapore Open (1st round).
Meanwhile, Shnaider will next face No. 4 seed American Iva Jovic, who beat Italian Jasmine Paolini, 6-4, 6-3.
Canadian Leylah Fernandez and Czech Marie Bouzkova also reached the Final Eight.
Fernandez survived Aliaksandra Sasnovich, 7-5, 6-7 (3), 6-3, to meet Ekaterina Alexandrova, who won the first set, 6-4, before Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk retired.
Bouzkova, meanwhile, downed Anastasia Zakharova, 7-5, 6-2, to forge a quarterfinal duel with compatriot Sara Bejlek, who eliminated Romanian Sorana Cirstea, 7-6 (3), 6-4.
Meanwhile, unseeded Katarzyna Kawa of Poland ousted No. 5 seed Belinda Bencic of Switzerland, 7-5, 6-2, to advance against the winner between top seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan and Polina Kudermetova of Uzbekistan. (Jean Malanum/PNA)
