Linz: Filipino tennis player Alexandra Eala suffered a 4-6, 5-7 defeat to Latvian Jelena Ostapenko in the second round of the WTA 500 Linz Open in Austria. This marked Eala's first tournament on clay this year and her first loss to Ostapenko after two previous victories.
According to Philippines News Agency, the fourth-seeded Ostapenko made a remarkable comeback from 1-5 down in the second set to secure the win in one hour and 43 minutes. Previously, in 2025, Eala had defeated Ostapenko twice, with victories at the Miami Open in the United States and the Eastbourne Open in the United Kingdom.
Eala, ranked World No. 46, advanced to the second round after overcoming Austria's Julia Grabher 6-4, 6-3 in the first round. Ostapenko will now face Romanian Elena-Gabriela Ruse in the Round of 16, who triumphed over Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska in a three-set match.
Other matches in the second round feature top seed Russian Mirra Andreeva against American Sloane Stephens, second seed Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova against Czech Karolina Pliskova, third seed Russian Liudmila Samsonova against Austrian Lilli Tagger, and fifth seed Romanian Sorana Cirstea against Hungarian Dalma Galfi.
In addition, German Tamara Korpatsch will play the winner of the match between Austrian Anastasia Potapova and Chinese Shuai Zhang. Croatian Donna Vekic awaits the victor between Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina and Hungarian Panna Udvardy.
