Joy ride over–for now

By Al Mendoza (Guest writer)

THE joy ride is over for Alex Eala.  For now, that is.

And it was an ugly ending, to say the least.

Painful, but it’s true.

Eala did not just bow to Karolina Muchova. She was crushed like a smashed squash, bleeding to death as in a kidnapped, mercilessly tortured captive of a terrorist group demanding ransom money.

Hair-raising scene it was to see Muchova dismantle, punish, beat Eala to a pulp that you need to pinch yourself many times to make sure the ghastly slaughter was really happening.

This was the fourth round of the Miami Open, starting close to midnight Monday, March 23 Philippine time, the carnage completed almost exactly an hour later.

Yes, Muchova was expected to win, having crowned herself the Qatar Open champion only last January—her second WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) 1000 title.

Thus, against the still winless Eala, Muchova was carrying a momentum as formidable as an enemy missile in the ongoing Middle East conflict.

It immediately manifested right in the first set, when Muchova, firing blistering shots at will all over the court, broke Eala three times for a 6-0 rout that all but practically wrapped up the Round of 16 match.

So dominating was the 13th-ranked killing machine from the Czech Republic that she had hardly allowed Eala to execute a decent shot.

In no time, you begin to ask yourself:  Is this the Alex Eala I’ve come to know?

For, to be honest, I never completely saw the real Alex Eala from midnight Monday to Tuesday dawn.

This time, there was an impersonator being mercilessly thrashed relentlessly for almost 60 minutes by Muchova, who could do nothing wrong against an Eala who could do nothing right.

Muchova had only murder in her mind,

She was blood-thirsty.

She was ruthless.

She was unforgiving.

If Muchova were a frontline soldier, she’d take no prisoner. Kill, kill, kill.

Only in the second set’s game five did Muchova spare a quarter, allowing Eala to taste victory after the 29-year-old Czech had taken an imposing 4-0 edge.

But Muchova quickly recaptured the lollipop, rising from 0-30 to make it 5-1 and be closer to a straight-set win en route to the quarterfinals.

Muchova proved generous once more as she yielded game seven to Eala.

But serving for the match after a 5-2 lead, Muchova became all the more guillotine-driven, racing crazily to a 40-0 lead and easily converting the three match-points to victory.

An almost tearful Eala went to hug Muchova in a touching gesture of sportsmanship, and strode out of the court waving to a downtrodden crowd unbelieving of what had just transpired.

“Experience was the key,” said Muchova.

Yes, it is experience that Eala will need to invest on more.

At 20, our lass needs many more battles to hone her skills and toughen her mind as well for the brutal wars ahead.

THAT’S IT  If plans don’t miscarry, Alex Eala’s next tournament is the Austria Open in Linz set April 6-12.  Then, it will either be the Charleston Open in the US or the Copa Colsanitas Open in Bogota, Colombia.  There is no stopping Alex now.  Go, go, go Alex! (Reprinted from Business Mirror, authorized by the author)