Eala is back

By Al S. Mendoza

THIS time, the old Alex Eala is back.

This time, the Alex Eala we so lovingly knew has resurfaced.

And yes, this time, Alex Eala has discarded her cloak of vulnerability.

Slashing crisp forehands in wild abandon.  Blasting away winners the way she used to do.  Even executing delicate net volleys that take our breadth away.

This Monday evening (Oct. 20 PHL time), Eala was nothing but spectacular.  From the first serve to the last drop shot, she was just everything that personified near perfection.

Sorry, that Diane Parry, France’s No. 1 women’s singles player, was the recipient of Eala’s punishing comeback from purgatory to the winner’s circle.

It came with clinical class: Precise, straightforward, confident.

Eala was a masterpiece in administering Parry a 6-3, 6-1 loss in the Round of 32 of the Ningbo Open in the province of Zhejiang in eastern China.

While the first set was a study of complete confidence, the second was but a clear case of bringing Parry back to tennis school.

In the first set, after Parry broke to level the count at 3-all, Eala recoiled and broke back before banging home the last two games for the 6-3 win carved out in stellar style.

And in the second set, Eala, as if running late for school, rushed to a 4-0 lead with telling shots through two service breaks, leaving the hapless French wondering why this unkind fate would befall on her.

Oh, well, Eala eased up a bit in the fifth game, allowing Parry to win it on a service break—after a dinky deuce.

And from a 4-1 lead, Eala decided enough is enough.  Ruthless up to the very end, the 21-year-old Filipino ace ripped the 24-year-old Parry to pieces again, putting away the last two games in ego-busting fashion for a vicious 6-1 win to wrap up the match serving as sort of redemption.

Redemption because prior to Monday’s carnage, Eala was herself a victim of major hiccups after losing successively to a clutch of obscure players, in the process drawing criticism from irate fans who labeled Alex as seemingly losing her focus on her tennis career after seeing her indulge in some non-tennis forays  in social media.

Oh, well, it happens.  Once you’ve become the darling of a nation long deprived of heroes on the sporting world stage, you are totally placed in a pedestal like a demigod.   Jealousy easily sets in to an enamored bunch close to being obsessed with burning passion.

But in a sense, they were right.

The way Eala played her first round in her second appearance on the Chinese tennis Tour—that was the first-round disaster in the Wuhan Open days back—she was a compete wreck, indeed.

She won the first set, all right, but inexplicably faded in the last two sets to bow to the nondescript Han Shi in the Wuhan Open.

But she’s done licking her wounds.

Now, she is back.  With a vengeance, mind you.  And, if looks could kill, Eala was totally that when she massacred Parry.

All business, I tell you.  Another day in the office.

THAT’S IT  With Converge’s 114-112 overtime win over TNT last weekend, the days are seemingly over for those sickly, ghastly routs of 20-plus points winning margins in the ongoing Governors’ Cup of the Philippine Basketball Association?  Looks like it as the playoffs are just around the corner, fellas.  Party time.